Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PEÑA
ALI G. ANUDIN
Reading
and Writing
TEACHER’S MANUAL
Reading and Writing
ISBN: 978-971-07-4133-5
Published and printed by Vibal Group, Inc. with main office at 1253 G.
Araneta Avenue, Quezon City.
Regional Offices: 0290 Nivel Hills, Lahug, Cebu City and Kalamansi St.
cor. 1st Ave., Juna Subdivision, Martina, Davao City
ii
TEXTBOOK PREFACE
Vibal books are well-known for their appropriateness in content, smoothness of style, and creativity
in presentation. This book responds to the emerging needs of the new K-12 curriculum, following
the requirements of the Department of Education’s curriculum guide. It offers even more by
employing a process-genre approach to reading and writing. This book also incorporates insights
gleaned from research particularly in the field of 21st century skills. Besides the packed content,
lessons in this book have the following useful elements:
Genre focus: Designed to expose learners to different text types that serve specific real-world
functions, this feature familiarizes learners about the different characteristics of such text types by
using active strategies for reading each genre. Learners also write their own example of the genre
using a step-by-step process incorporating 21st century skills such as collaboration and critical
thinking.
Diversified questions: Lead-up questions prepare learners to study the text. Comprehension
questions enable measurement of how much the learners understood the text. Critical thinking
questions develop 21st century thinking skills by activating higher-order thinking skills based on
the revised Bloom’s taxonomy.
Writing one’s own genre sample: Learners use the necessary process and genre skills to write a
particular genre sample by generating ideas for writing, applying language skills, organizing a text,
and other aspects of both time-tested approaches.
Online collaboration: Learners collaboratively exploit the benefits of online technology both
to obtain knowledge and to publish their work for peer assessment, reflecting how people live in
the 21st century.
Assessment for the 21st century: Two kinds of 21st century assessment are used:
1) Formative assessments find out whether the learner is catching up with the on-going learning
process, and
2) Summative assessments check how well the learner has mastered the lessons.
Instead of paper-and pencil-tests, they come as projects and performances, which accommodate
differences in learning styles and personality, promote enduring understanding, deal with learning
and achievement gaps, and uphold focused teaching.
The authors hope that by following the elements given in this book, learners may acquire the
reading and writing skills needed to better participate in the real world, and that teachers may
reflect on their teaching practices and improve them.
iii
TM WALKTHROUGH
Unit Overview – briefly describes or summarizes all the themes, topics, and activities of the
lessons in the unit.
Content and Performance Standards – the knowledge and skills students will achieve in the
chapter.
Lesson Overview – provides the “lesson map.” It introduces the key concepts and skills treated in
the lesson.
Lesson Competencies – lists all the competencies that every student is expected to acquire in the
lesson.
Diagnostic Test – a pre-teaching assessment gauging students’ prior knowledge on the topics
covered in the lesson. This test will help you determine your students’ strengths and weaknesses so
you can tailor your instruction or teaching strategies according to their needs to ensure optimum
learning.
a. Motivation – a short activity that will absolutely capture students’ interest and get them im-
merse in the lesson to achieve the target learning goals.
b. Presentation of Content – a detailed lesson plan infused with formative assessments measuring
students’ learning progress.
Differentiated Instruction – well-designed activities are provided to address the individual and
differing needs of students.
c. Processing – questions about the topics discussed in the lesson. These are formulated according
to “Adapted Cognitive Process Dimensions” stipulated in Department Education Order No.
8 s. 2015.
d. End-of-lesson Assessments – measures students’ achievement or mastery of knowledge and
skills after the discussion of the lesson. Another Differentiated Instruction is also provided in
this section—Remediation, Reinforcement, and Enrichment activities.
e. Reflection – a self-assessment allowing students to reflect on the progress of their own learning.
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Unit 1 Reading, Writing, and Thinking Strategies Across Text Types........ 2
Lesson 1 Genre Forms, Text Features, and Structures.................................. 2
Lesson 2 Critical Reading and Thinking Strategies........................................ 21
Lesson 3 Types of Writing.............................................................................. 30
Lesson 4 The Writing Process........................................................................ 37
Unit 2 Reading, Writing, and Critical Thinking Across Text Types ............. 46
Lesson 1 Reading and Writing Narrative Text Types...................................... 46
Lesson 2 Reading and Writing Expository Text Types.................................... 59
Lesson 3 Reading and Writing Persuasion Text Types.................................. 71
Lesson 4 Reading and Writing Descriptive Text Types................................... 83
v
Reading
and Writing
TEACHER’S MANUAL
Unit 1 Reading, Writing, and Thinking Strategies
Across Text Types
UNIT OVERVIEW
This unit gives broad descriptions about the categories in which texts are classified. It explains the
purposes of different texts and enumerates specific kinds of writing that fall into a category based on
their structure, purpose, and audience. It gives insight as to the skills used to read and understand each
category and explains the common process in which the texts are produced.
CONTENT STANDARD
The learners realize that information in a written text may be selected and organized to achieve a par-
ticular purpose.
PERFORMANCE STANDARD
The learners critique a chosen sample of each pattern of development focusing on information selection,
organization, and development.
LESSON OVERVIEW
Students are exposed to different genre—prose, poetry, and drama—with actual samples. The lesson
also discusses the differences between literary and informational texts. Exercises involve identifying
and classifying different texts into their correct genre. Specific characteristics of texts that are discussed
include text features and patterns of development.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
After studying this lesson, the senior high school student is able to:
1. classify different texts according to genre and genre form;
2. recognize the generic features and structure of specific texts; and
3. identify the pattern of development used in a specific text;
DIAGNOSTIC TEST
This pretest must be done a session before this lesson so that you may have enough time to check it.
Post the following on the board written on any large paper or as an electronic presentation. Ask the
students to write their answers on their notebooks.
2
2. Which of the following is NOT a text feature?
a. problem and solution
b. bulleted lists
c. graphic aids
d. headings and subheadings
3. What are the main literary genres?
a. fiction, non-fiction, and news
b. prose, poetry, and drama
c. news, opinion, and poetry
d. features, news, and opinion
4. What kind of texts provides factual information?
a. prose texts
b. genre texts
c. literary texts
d. informational texts
5. Tragedy, comedy, and farce are examples of ______________.
a. poetry
b. texts
c. genre
d. drama
6. Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of poetry?
a. musical quality
b. patterns of development
c. words with highly charged meaning
d. uses line length and stanzas
7. Which of the following is an example of a pattern of development?
a. historical drama
b. compare and contrast
c. bulleted and numbered list
s. workplace documents
8. What are the main types of prose?
a. main idea and details
b. poetry and drama
c. fiction and non-fiction
d. headings and subheadings
9. Which of the following is a literary text?
a. User’s Manual for the latest car
b. Reading and Writing by Andrew Peña and Ali Anudin
c. "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe
d. Recipe for Pininyahang Manok
3
10. Biographies and autobiographies are examples of _____________.
a. informational texts
b. literary texts
c. genre forms
d. text features
Answers
1. A 6. B
2. A 7. B
3. B 8. C
4. D 9. C
5. D 10. B
Instructional Plan
Make sure that the title of the lesson is written in front for the whole class to see.
A. Motivation
Print out title pages of books, magazines, and other documents and texts in small form (in order
to economize). Have four copies for each title page. Divide your class into four groups and assign
the printouts into each group. Ask them to group the titles into categories or classes based on their
own choice by sticking them into a manila paper or on the board if the board is wide enough to
accommodate four groups. Later, ask each group to explain how they grouped the titles and what
categories they created.
B. Presentation of Content
READ and DISCUSS
Tell the class that the lesson is about the widely-accepted classifications of texts. Ask a student to
read the lesson outcomes on page 2.
Genre, page 2
Flash the question, “What is genre?.” Ask a few students to define the word.
The term genre has been ordinarily regarded as a literary or artistic category.
Have the students recall the different genres they studied in junior high school. You may also
encourage several students to share which of the genres they enjoy the most and have them explain
why. Then present to the class the following:
4
William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as
the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is of-
ten called England's national poet, and the "Bard of Avon." His extant works, including col-
laborations, consist of approximately 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and
a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every
major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.
Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the
age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and
twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful
career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner of a playing company called the Lord
Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford
around 1613, at age 49, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's
private life survive, which has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as
his physical appearance, sexuality, and religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed
to him were written by others.
Excerpt from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare
Hamlet
by William Shakespeare
ACT I
SCENE I. Elsinore. A platform before the castle. Francisco at his post. Enter to him Bernardo.
BERNARDO: Who's there?
FRANCISCO: Nay, answer me: stand, and unfold yourself.
BERNARDO: Long live the king!
FRANCISCO: Bernardo?
BERNARDO: He.
FRANCISCO: You come most carefully upon your hour.
BERNARDO: 'Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco.
FRANCISCO: For this relief much thanks: 'tis bitter cold, And I am sick at heart.
BERNARDO: Have you had quiet guard?
FRANCISCO: Not a mouse stirring.
BERNARDO: Well, good night. If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, The rivals of my watch,
bid them make haste.
FRANCISCO: I think I hear them. Stand, ho! Who's there?
Enter Horation and Marcellus.
HORATIO: Friends to this ground.
MARCELLUS: And liegemen to the Dane.
FRANCISCO: Give you good night.
MARCELLUS: O, farewell, honest soldier: Who hath relieved you?
FRANCISCO: Bernardo has my place. Give you good night.
Exit
5
Sonnet XVIII
by William Shakespeare
Ask the class to study each text. Have them note the style of each text. Call on several students
to describe and differentiate the form, language, and style of the texts. Then ask them to classify
the genre of each literary text.
Discuss the main literary genres. Ask: What are the main literary genres? Direct the students to
the answer found on page 2 of their textbook. Call on a student to enumerate them.
Prose is writing that is similar to everyday speech and language. Its form is based
on sentences and paragraphs.
Then say that there are two main categories of prose. Have the class read aloud the "Prose Forms"
on page 3. Ask a volunteer to describe in his or her own words the difference between fiction and
nonfiction. Then call on a few individuals to give examples of fiction and nonfiction and have them
share their prose they have read. Flash again the short biography of Shakespeare. Ask: Why is this
considered a prose? In what category does it belong? Call on a few students to share their thoughts.
Activity 1
Ask the students to do the activity by reading to them the instructions from the textbook.
6
Poetry, pages 3-4
Ask: Do you love poetry? Why or why not? Encourage several students to share their thoughts. You
may also ask a few students to recite their most favorite poem and read it aloud if they have a copy
of it.
Direct the students to the definition of poetry on page 3 of their textbook. Have the class read
it in unison.
Unlike prose, poetry consists of language with a strong musical quality in which the words
are highly charged with meaning. They also use structural elements such as line length and
stanzas.
Say that poetry has different forms. Instruct the students to give one and describe it.
1. Lyric poems are highly musical verses that express observations and feelings of a single
speaker.
2. Narrative poems, unlike lyric poems, tell a story.
3. Free verse is poetry not written in a regular rhythmical pattern or meter. It can either
rhyme or not. Poets have the flexibility to use language depending on their purpose and
the various effects that they want to incorporate in their poems.
4. Haiku consists of seventeen syllables arranged in three lines—five syllables in the first
line, seven in the second, and five in the third.
Lyric Poems
You may also review the class the following:
Lyric poems
• were originally meant to be sung (During ancient Greece and Rome, lyric poems were
sung to the strums of an accompanying lyre.)
• is generally short
• expresses deep personal feelings
Say that there are different kinds of lyric poems. Have the students recall what those are. Pres-
ent the excerpts below and instruct the class to read each excerpt aloud so they will appreciate the
musicality of these lyric poems. Emphasize that to appreciate more and understand poems, students
have to read the poems aloud. After the class read each excerpt, ask: What do you think the kind of
lyric poem it is?
7
Sweet the hours in the native country,
where friendly shines the sun above!
Life is the breeze that sweeps the meadows;
tranquil is death; most tender, love.
8
There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;—
Turn wheresoe’er I may,
By night or day,
The things which I have seen I now can see no more.
"Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood"
by William Wordsworth
Narrative Poems
Have the students recall narrative poems they learned in junior high school. Call on a few volunteers to
share one narrative poem. You may also encourage them to recite the poem or tell the story of that poem.
Have the students recall the different types of narrative poems and ask them to give examples.
You may present the following:
9
Mini-task
Instruct the class to read aloud the narrative poem. Then, have the students identify
the following:
1. the story of the poem
2. the setting
3. the main characters
4. the conflict
10
“Now whether is this a rich man’s house,
Or whether is it a poor?”
But neer a word wad ane o them speak,
For barring of the door.
Free Verse
Reiterate that free verse are poems that have no rhyme and regular rhythm. Remind the class
that to be able to undestand a free verse poem, they have to read it in thought units. Flash the free
verse poem or provide the students a copy. Instruct the class to listen very well as you read the poem.
11
Salutation to the Dawn
by Kalidasa
Activity
You may give this as an assignment. Instruct the students to read "Cinderella" by
Anne Sexton. In the next meeting, have the students share their thoughts about the
poem. Ask if they consider the poem a free verse and have them explain why. You
may also tackle the issues expressed in the poem.
Haiku
Say: Haiku is a Japanese verse form of 5-7-5 lines characterized by its brevity, pithiness, and sym-
bolism. It is usually about nature and centered on one moment. It contains three parts—two images
and a concluding line that helps juxtapose the images. The most famous haiku poet is Matsuo Basho
who believed in wabi-sabi (wabi means satisfaction with simplicity and austerity and sabi meaning
appreciation of imperfect.)
Present the poem "Old Pond" by Basho. Instruct the class to read it aloud. Call on a few students to
identify the images in the poem and have them discuss how the concluding line juxtaposes the images.
Old Pond
by Matsuo Basho
Old pond...
A frog leaps in
Water's sound
To help the students understand the aesthetic and meaning of the poem, you may briefly discuss
the points in this article found at this link https://www.uwosh.edu/facstaff/barnhill/es-244-basho/
bashos-hokku.pdf.
12
Activity 2
Ask students to do the activity by reading to them the instructions from the textbook.
Drama, page 4
Highlight the word drama and call on a student to define it.
Call on a fews students to give the different types of drama. Ask volunteers to differentiate each.
13
Tragedy • the protagonist, because of some Hamlet by William Shake-
inherent flaw in his/her character, speare
dies Trahedya sa Balay ni Kadil
• evokes sadness, death, and irony by Don Pasugara
• implies a central action, a crisis Sinag ng Karimlan by Dioni-
which tests that flawed part of the sio Salazar
protagonist’s character. Anghel by Noel De Leon
• evokes a wonder born of pity and
fear, the result of which is cathartic
(Poetics of Aristotle)
Historical • takes place in the past and is based Julius Caesar by William
Drama on real events Shakespeare
• characters may have been based The Lion in Winter by James
on real historical figures Goldman
• the dialogue and the action are Saint Joan by George Ber-
mostly created by the playwright nard Shaw
You may encourage students to do some research about the given plays and in the next meeting
have them share their reactions or thoughts about the play.
Activity 3
Ask students to do the activity by reading to them the instructions from the textbook.
14
Literary Texts Informational Texts
• use language in aesthetic, imaginative & • a subset of the larger category of non-fic-
engaging ways tion (Duke & Bennett-Armistead, 2003)
• purpose is to entertain, to move, to express • primary purpose is to convey information
& reinforce cultural identity or to reflect about the natural or social world
• tell a story • use language in precise and accurate ways
• has elements (plot, characters, setting, to provide factual information; to transact
conflict, symbols) and negotiate relationships, goods, and
• uses figurative language services; report on things, events, and
• include short stories, novels, poems, dra- issues; give directions; explain, analyze,
mas, biographies, autobiographies, and argue, persuade, and give opinions
other essays • unlike literary, it does not use elemets such
as characters and symbols
• authors of informational text employ a va-
riety of structures to assist the reader in
finding information quickly and efficiently
such as table of contents, an index, bold
or italicized text, glossaries for specialized
vocabulary, embedded definitions for spe-
cialized vocabulary, realistic illustrations
of photos, captions and other labels, and
graphs and charts.
• texts that convey information accurately "to
increase readers' knowledge of a subject,
to help readers better understand a proce-
dure or process, or to provide readers with
an enhanced comprehension of a concept"
(NGA & CCSSO, 2010, p. 23)
• include textbooks, user manuals, govern-
ment documents, manuals related to a
specific job, textbooks, and newspapers
Direct students' attention to the different informational texts on page 5. Ask a volunteer to read
aloud what consumer documents are. Say that consumer documents are informational texts. Have
the class enumerate the given consumer documents.
Call on another volunteer to read aloud what public documents are. Say that public documents
are also informational texts. Call on a few students to give what these public documents are.
Ask: What are workplace documents? Call on several students to give examples. Say that those
workplace documents are also informative texts.
Ask: Are your textbooks informative text? Why do you think so? How about newspaper articles?
15
Say: In this Information or Digital Age, informational texts have been a part of your everyday
reading or even a part of everything you do. You are always exposed to such kind of texts, just for
example, when you read an article you saw on the homepage of your account in a social networking
site.
Activity 4
Ask students to do the activity by reading to them the instructions from the textbook.
This serves as formative assessment during the lesson. The answers are given below.
Ask the students to check their seatmate’s work.
Literary Informational
“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost History of the Philippines by Teodoro
“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Agoncillo
Poe Constitution of the Republic of the Phil-
“A Midsummer Night's Dream” by William ippines
Shakespeare Newsweek
“Beauty and the Beast” by Hans Christian “The Grammar Book” by Marianne
Andersen Celce-Murcia and Dianne Freeman
“O Captain, My Captain!” by Walt Whitman
The Social Cancer by Jose Rizal
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hem-
ingway
A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawk-
ing (This is a book of essays about Phys-
ics)
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Based on the result of the formative assessment, group your class into three but do not inform
the class about the grouping. Put the high achievers in one group, the middle achievers into another
group, and the lower achievers into still another group. You will utilize this grouping later. Do not
discuss yet the answers to this formative assessment.
Text features are design elements of a text that indicate its organizational structure
or make its key ideas and information understandable.
Have the students enumerate each type of text feature. Point out a specific example by directing
their attention to an example of that text feature found in this book.
16
Patterns of Development, pages 6-7
As you highlight the phrase Patterns of Development, say to the class: Patterns of development
or patterns of organization are specific ways writers organize their writing for a specific purpose.
Patterns of organization are also called text structures.
Tell the students to study the description for each pattern of development until they are able to
describe in their own words each pattern of development.
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
For Advanced
Ask the students to form a group and discuss what pattern of development they would use if they were
to write a paragraph about the following. Inform them that they will present their discussion later.
1. The differences between bacteria and viruses
2. Providing jobs for new graduates
3. Starting your own business
4. Developing good study habits
5. Dealing with food shortage
6. Why many people do not obey traffic laws
7. Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio
8. Developing a hobby
9. Learning to drive
10. Beautiful places in the Philippines
For Intermediate
Ask students to do Activity 5 by reading to them the instructions from the textbook. Use a book that has
the features discussed in the section on text features. Ask them to move to a part of the room or even
outside where they can discuss their presentation.
For Beginners
While the advanced and intermediate groups are preparing for their presentation, discuss the answers to
Activity 4 to beginners group. After this, ask the advanced group to present what they discussed. Follow
this with the presentation of the intermediate group.
17
Cause Effect
because consequently
since accordingly
on account of thus
for that reason hence
due to as a result
being that therefore
seeing that as a consequence
in that in consequence
for so much (so) that
as so
since for this reason
inasmuch as
Remind the class that there are several forms to develop cause-effect relationships:
1. One cause with one effect
Sample topic: The cause and the effect of telling a lie
2. One cause with multiple effects
Sample topic: How social media has changed human relationships
3. Multiple causes with a single effect
Sample topic: Why are fast food restaurants very popular nowadays?
4. A chain of causes and effects
Sample topic: Causes and effects of human curiosity in human progress
Sequence, page 7
Have the class give examples of informational texts arranged in chronological order, spatial order,
and order of importance.
18
Main Idea and Details, page 7
Call on a few volunteers to explain whar a main idea is and what supporting details are. Ask: How do
you develop or explain the main idea in your paragraph? What are the different types of supporting
details you can use to tell about your main idea?
Activity 6 (Optional)
Ask students to do this activity by reading to them the instructions from the textbook.
D. End-of-Lesson Assessment
Ask your students to read “Applying Language Skills” on the topic, “Genre focus – Memoir,” found
in unit two lesson one, (page 44 of the textbook).
Ask the students to get a half sheet of paper and answer the following individually:
A. What is the genre of the text?
B. What is the purpose of the text features found in the text such as bold face type texts and bulleted
texts?
C. What pattern of organization is used in the text?
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
Based on the result of this test, privately decide who would take remediation, reinforcement, or enrich-
ment for this lesson.
Remediation
Instruct the group that they are to work in pairs to write a one-sentence description of each of the types
of organizational patterns discussed in the textbook using Filipino or any language they want to use.
Tell them to write their answers on a half sheet of paper.
19
Reinforcement
Instruct the group that they are to read the article “Shall We Walk?” by Pura Santillan-Castrence in unit
two lesson three (page 66 of the textbook). Say to the group that “Shall We Walk?" is an example of an
article organized using main idea and details pattern of development. Have the group identify the main
idea and the supporting details. Tell them to write their answers on a half sheet of paper.
Enrichment
Instruct the group that when they arrive home they are to look for books or reading materials that are
organized into cause-and-effect, main idea and details, and problem-solution. Tell them to write on a
sheet of paper the pattern of organization and the books or reading materials they found that have that
pattern of organization.
E. Reflection
Have the students write in their journals the answer to the following questions:
1. What part of the lesson did I do well?
2. What part of the lesson did I not deliver as well as I wanted to?
3. What particular strategy or approach will I do well to employ in other lessons?
4. What aspect of the lesson must I try to improve?
5. How do I feel about my over-all performance in this lesson?
Additional Readings
• You can read Joy Wingersky’s discussions on the patterns of development in her book, Writing
Paragraphs and Essays published by Wadsworth Publishing Company.
• For examples of prose and poetry written by Filipinos, you can read Pura Santillan-Castrence’s
classic book, Philippine Prose and Poetry. Your library or fellow English or literature teachers
probably have a copy of this.
• For more examples of articles written in specific patterns of development, you can read The
Riverside Reader by Joseph Trimmer and Maxine Hairston published by Houghton Mifflin
Company. This book has a table of contents organized by patterns of development.
• Another good book with a table of contents of articles organized according to patterns of devel-
opment is Subject & Strategy: A Rhetoric Reader by Paul Escholz and Alfred Rosa published
by St. Martin’s Press.
• You may also access discussions on poetry, prose, and drama in http://www.americanenglish.
state.gov.
20
Lesson 2 THE FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNICATION
LESSON OVERVIEW
Students are asked to perform several activities that highlight specific reading and critical thinking skills
such as activating prior knowledge, visualizing, summarizing, etc. In doing so, students are expected
to learn different skills by actually performing them.
Learning Competencies
After studying this lesson, the senior high school student is able to:
1. determine the specific reading strategies to use with specific texts;
2. understand the specific thinking strategies to use with specific texts.
DIAGNOSTIC TEST
This pretest must be done a session before this lesson so that you may have enough time to check it.
Post the following on the board written on any large paper or as an electronic presentation. Ask the
students to write their answers in their notebooks.
21
5. Which reading strategy is useful in reading persuasive and expository texts by recalling what
you already know about the topic being discussed?
A. understanding sequence of events
B. activating prior knowledge
C. paraphrasing
D. putting text information in an outline
6. Which reading strategy is very useful in understanding the relationship between general and
specific ideas by putting them in order?
A. putting text information in an outline
B. identifying cause and effect
C. understanding sequence of events
D. visualizing
7. Which reading strategy is very useful in knowing what one condition produced and how a con-
dition was produced by another condition?
A. paraphrasing
B. comparing and contrasting
C. asking questions
D. identifying cause and effect
8. Which reading strategy is very useful in reading all kinds of texts because it helps you understand
and remember the important ideas?
A. previewing
B. understanding sequence of events
C. summarizing
D. comparing and contrasting
9. Which reading strategy involves determining which ideas are broad and which ones are specific?
A. comparing and contrasting
B. identifying main ideas and details
C. identifying cause and effect
D. drawing conclusions and recommendations
10. Which reading strategy helps the reader understand difficult parts of a text by simplifying com-
plex ideas?
A. previewing
B. summarizing
C. paraphrasing
D. synthesizing
22
Instructional Plan
Make sure that the title of the lesson is written in front for the whole class to see.
A. Motivation
Bring several coffee table books and share them with the class. Have them look at the pages of the
book and read the titles, captions, and first sentences of several paragraphs that interest them. Tell
them to browse the table of contents in order to get an idea of the contents of the book.
Give some time to let the students preview the books.
After some time, say that what they are doing is called previewing. This involves browsing
some of the salient or noticeable parts of a book in order to get a feel for what the book is all about.
B. Presentation of Content
READ and DISCUSS
Ask a student to read the lesson outcomes on page 8.
Discuss the definition of reading strategies.
Previewing
Direct the class to read silently the definition of previewing on pages 8-9.
Visualizing, page 9
Direct the students' attention to page 93 of the textbook containing the article, “Some African
Birds.” Tell the class that you will read some parts of the article, "Some African Birds.” Instruct
them to imagine the situation you are reading about.
Read three paragraphs from that article. Then ask the class: What did you imagine? Let them
give their answers. Say that what they are doing is called visualizing.
Discuss visualizing.
23
Understanding Sequence of Events, pages 9-10
Tell the class that you read a portion of a short story titled, "The Masque of the Red Death." Tell
them to pay attention to words that show the sequence of events such as then, after that, later, before
that, and other words that show sequence.
Go to page 106 and read the paragraph that starts with, “But these other apartments were densely
crowded, and in them beat feverishly the heart of life.”
Discuss understanding sequence of events.
Paraphrasing, page 11
Say that you will again read the paragraph. Read the paragraph again. Ask the students to say in
their own words what the paragraph says. Let the students answer individually. Say that what they
are now doing is called paraphrasing.
Discuss paraphrasing.
24
Read the poem. After reading, ask the class: What do you think is the mood of the poem? Let the
students answer individually. Say what they are doing is called recognizing mood in poetry.
Discuss recognizing mood in poetry.
Summarizing, page 12
Ask the class: What was the condition of Manila after the war as described by the author of Crusade
in Asia? Let the students answer individually.
Tell the class to summarize in one sentence what happened during the first Independence Day
celebrations. Let the students answer in one sentence. Say that what they are doing is called summarizing.
Discuss summarizing.
Synthesizing, page 12
Ask the class: After reading the article "Crusade in Asia," you made conclusions about the condition
of Manila after World War II. You also read about the first Independence Day celebrations. Now,
put together your conclusions and comment on the birth of the Philippine Republic. Who can give
a comment on the birth of the Philippine Republic, particularly how it was born? Let the students
think first before they answer individually. Say that what they are doing is called synthesizing.
Discuss synthesizing.
25
Formative Assessment During the Lesson
Administer again the diagnostic test given before the lesson. Based on the results, group the
students as group one (advanced), group 2 (intermediate), and group 3 (beginners). Apply
the following differentiated teaching to the appropriate group.
For Advanced
Say to the group that their activity is about synthesizing. Instruct the group members to read
any portion of the article “Nationalism” on page 86 of the textbook. Instruct each member to
make his or her own conclusion based on what he or she understood from the article. Then
tell them to combine their conclusions and come up with one or more syntheses. Say that
they will later present the group's syntheses to the class.
For Intermediate
Say to the group that their activity is about comparing and contrasting. Instruct the group mem-
bers to read the article “Some African Birds” on page 93 of the textbook. Tell them to choose
an African bird being described in the article and then compare that bird to a Philippine bird.
Have them present the similarities and difference of these two birds through a Venn diagram.
For Beginners
Say to the group that their activity is about paraphrasing. Instruct the group members to read
the article “The Katipunan Code of Conduct” on page 59 of the textbook. Say that each of
them will choose two descriptions of codes of conduct. He or she has to remember the num-
ber of the code he or she chose and then read each code three or four times without trying
to memorize it. After they read, they have to close the textbook and then write in their own
words what the code said.
Tell the group to share their work with their group mates and let them check if their paraphrase
is similar to the original code.
Interpreting, page 13
Instruct your students to go to page 104 of the textbook, containing the text for “The Masque of the
Red Death.” Instruct them to read paragraph five which begins with “It was in this apartment…”
and tell them to take note of the word “waltzers.”
26
Say to the class: During the time of Edgar Allan Poe, the writer of "The Masque of the Red
Death” waltz was considered a wild dance. Given this information, give your interpretation of the
kind of party Prince Prospero was holding. Let students answer individually.
Say to the class that what they are doing is called interpreting. They are basing their interpre-
tations on what they know about the elements in a text.
Discuss interpreting.
Inferring, page 13
Let the students read the first paragraph of the same text as well as the first two sentences of the
second paragraph.
Say to the students: This is not directly stated in the story but given that half of the population
was killed by the plague yet Prince Prospero was still able to gather a thousand friends from the
nobility, who were supposedly very few compared to the rest of the population. Which class—the
upper class or the lowers class—do you think is usually afflicted with the disease called the “Red
Death?” Let the students answer individually.
Tell the class that what they are doing is called inferring. Tell them that this is sometimes called
reading between the lines—it involves coming up with an idea which is not directly stated based on
what the author has explicitly written.
Discuss inferring.
Analyzing, page 13
Instruct your students to go to page 86 of the textbook where the text for “Nationalism” is found. Instruct
them to read the first two paragraphs. Ask the class: Given what your read about the components of
nationalism according to the author, do you agree with the author that the term “nationalism” does
not have to be qualified with such terms as “positive” and “balanced?” In other words, is there such
a thing as negative nationalism or imbalanced nationalism? Let the students answer individually.
After the discussion is over, say to the class that what they are doing is analyzing. It involves
seeing how parts support the whole.
Discuss analyzing.
27
Statement Fact or Opinion?
1. It is difficult for any country that has been dependent to stand alone.
4. To survive, men had been forced to kill, maraud, steal, lie, slink
about by night and hide in the hills by day.
Give them these instructions: The table on the board has several statements. The second column
is a space where you can write either the word “fact” or the word “opinion.”
Ask for individual volunteers and have them discuss their answers.
After the table has been completed and the answers have been discussed, discuss distinguishing
fact from opinion.
Evaluating, page 14
Instruct the students to go to page 66 of the textbook and read the author profile about Pura Santil-
lan-Castrence. After the students read Pura Santillan-Castrence’s author profile, have them read the
third paragraph of the article “Shall We Walk?”
Ask the class: In asserting that walking keeps the form fit, the author discusses the interaction
of muscles with other parts of the body. How qualified is the author to engage in this discussion and
why? Let the students defend their answers.
Say to the class that what they are doing is evaluating. It involves making an opinion about
something being read.
Discuss evaluating.
28
D. End-of-Lesson Assessment
1. Give each student a text to read. Let him or her read it silently.
2. Ask each student what reading strategy(ies) should be used in reading the text.
3. Ask each student what critical reading-thinking skill(s) should be used in reading the text.
4. Group the students into faster learners, average learners, and slower learners based on the quality
of their answers. Do remediation instruction for the slower learners, reinforcement instruction
for the average learners, and enrichment instruction for the faster learners.
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
Remediation
Ask the group to pick an editorial or editorial column (an opinion written by a single author or columnist)
and let the students produce a table similar to the one below where they list some statements from the
editorial and identify them if they are facts or opinion.
Reinforcement
Ask the group to pick an editorial column (an opinion piece written by one author or columnist) Tell
the students to research on the internet about the profile and credentials of the columnist who wrote the
editorial column. Have them evaluate how qualified the columnist in writing about the topic he or she
wrote based on his or her profile and credentials. Then tell them to choose their secretary who will write
down notes as they discuss among themselves their ideas about the columnist’s qualifications and how
reliable the information he or she gave in the article. Tell them to put together their ideas into a para-
graph or two, that is, they are synthesizing. Say to the group that they will submit the group’s written
output next meeting.
Enrichment
Ask the group to choose an editorial column and read it. Say to the group to analyze the arguments given
in the editorial column one by one and see if they work together to logically support the stand or main
opinion of the columnist. Tell them to pick a secretary in the group who will write down notes as they
discuss among themselves their ideas about whether the arguments actually work together to support
the opinion of the columnist and see if there is any argument that is not very useful in supporting the
columnist’s opinion. Have them choose someone from the group to write a paragraph or two about their
discussion and synthesize their ideas. Inform the group to submit the group’s written output next meeting.
29
E. Reflection
Have the students write in their journals the answer to the following questions:
1. What part of the lesson did I do well?
2. What part of the lesson did I not deliver as well as I wanted to?
3. What particular strategy or approach will I do well to employ in other lessons?
4. What aspect of the lesson must I try to improve?
5. How do I feel about my overall performance in this lesson?
Additional Readings
• Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell’s Patterns for College Writing: A Rhetorical Reader
and Guide 11th Edition emphasizes critical reading including recognizing patterns of develop-
ment. Published by Bedford/St. Martin’s.
• Lonna H. Smith and Robert J. Ramonda’s Read, Write, React: An Integrated Approach to Reading
and Writing deals extensively with critical reading-thinking skills. They also discuss the writing
process, active reading strategies, and developing one’s writing. Published by McGraw-Hill.
• Lynne Gaetz and Suneeti Phadke’s The Writer’s World: Paragraphs and Essays Second Edi-
tion discusses reading strategies. It has many examples of selections for application of reading
strategies.
• The McGraw-Hill Guide: Writing for College, Writing for Life has a section on critical thinking,
reading, and writing. It gives a very extensive discussion on writing based on the purposes for
writing.
LESSON OVERVIEW
The lesson helps students classify texts into types of writing by enabling them to recognize the generic
features and structure of specific texts. The lesson also discusses what specific texts fall into a broad type
of writing. Exercises involve gathering different texts, examining and classifying them.
Learning Competencies
At the end of the lesson, the student should be able to:
1. classify different texts according to type of writing;
2. recognize the generic features and structure of specific texts; and
3. identify the pattern of development used in a specific text.
DIAGNOSTIC TEST
This pretest must be done a session before this lesson so that you may have enough time to check it.
Post the following on the board written on any large paper or as an electronic presentation. Ask the
students to write their answers on their notebooks.
30
Directions: Choose the letter of the correct answer.
1. To which text type does a definition essay belong?
a. narrative
b. descriptive
c. expository
d. persuasive
2. To which text type does a problem-solution essay belong?
a. narrative
b. descriptive
c. expository
d. persuasive
3. Which text types use sensory details?
a. narrative and descriptive
b. descriptive and expository
c. expository and narrative
d. persuasive and expository
4. What kind of text type is a memoir?
a. fiction descriptive
b. writing for media
c. fiction expository
d. nonfiction narrative
5. Which kind of writing requires sound reasoning?
a. narrative and descriptive
b. descriptive and expository
c. persuasive and narrative
d. persuasive and expository
6. What kind of text type is a critical review?
a. workplace and technical writing
b. persuasive writing
c. response to literature
d. expository
7. Which of the following is a form of writing for media?
a. I-search report
b. documentary
c. resume
d. op-ed
8. Which of the following is a form of research writing?
a. I-search report
b. documentary
c. resume
d. op-ed
31
9. In which of the following kinds of text type is it most important to have an intended audience
and use polite language?
a. response to literature
b. narrative
c. workplace and technical writing
d. descriptive
10. Which of the following is an example of persuasive writing?
a. resume
b. op-ed
c. I-search
d. documentary
Answers
1. B 6. C
2. C 7. B
3. A 8. A
4. D 9. C
5. D 10. B
Instructional Plan
Make sure that the title of the lesson is written in front for the whole class to see.
A. Motivation
Post the following on the board and ask the students to determine what the following sentences are
trying to do:
1. Walk and know yourself. (persuade)
2. It was then, however, that the Prince Prospero, maddening with rage and the shame
of his own momentary cowardice, rushed hurriedly through the six chambers. (narrate)
3. When the tall birds are together in large numbers, it is a fine sight to see them spread
their wings and dance. (describe)
4. I spent two days just riffling uncertainly through the dictionary’s pages. (narrate)
5. The demarcation line between what is constructively nationalistic and what is discrim-
inatingly chauvinistic is often very thin and delicate. (explain)
Let the students answer individually and elaborate on what each answer is. For example, in
number 1, the sentence is trying to persuade.
B. Presentation of Content
READ and DISCUSS
Ask a student to read the lesson outcomes on page 16. Then post the following in front of the class
or use an electronic presentation:
32
Say to the class: Genres have also been considered as types or categories of writing, namely,
narrative writing, descriptive writing, expository writing, persuasive writing, responses to literature,
research writing, workplace and technical writing, and writing for media. Each genre has subcate-
gories or forms, each form or category having a specific purpose and specific characteristics.
Narrative Writing
Fiction Narratives Nonfiction Narratives
• Realistic fiction • Personal narratives
• Fantasy stories • Biographical narratives
• Historical fiction • Diary and journal entries
• Mystery stories • Blogs
• Myths • Eyewitness accounts
• Legends • Memoirs
• Science fiction • Reflective essays
• Tall tales
Call on several students to define each and provide an example of a text they have read. Discuss
examples of fiction narratives and nonfiction narratives.
Activity 9
Direct the class to open their books on page 17. Say that those titles are examples of
fiction narratives. Ask: Which of these narratives are you familiar with? Let the students
answer individually.
After discussing the examples of fiction narratives, instruct the class to write the titles
of fiction narratives they have read on a piece of paper. Tell them to identify the type
of fiction narrative. Let each student check the work of their peers.
Activity 10
Instruct the class to write the titles of nonfiction narratives they have read on a piece of
paper. Tell them to identify the type of nonfiction narrative. Then, have them exchange
papers with their classmates. Tell them to do peer checking of their lists.
33
narrative narrative
writing writing
narrative narrative
writing writing
narrative narrative
writing writing
Administer items number 1 – 5 of the diagnostic test previously given at the start of this lesson.
Based on the results, group your students into advanced, intermediate, and beginners but
do not inform the class regarding how you grouped them. Perform differentiated instruction
on each group.
For Advanced
Tell the group to individually write a short persuasive essay about what they think should
happen in school or in the world at large.
Instruct the group to share their work with some of their classmates to know how convincing
their essay is.
For Intermediate
Instruct the group to write individually a short description about any significant place they have
have explored. Remind them to use vivid and colorful words in describing the place. Tell them
to share their work with some of their classmates and let their classmates imagine what they
wrote and draw what they read. Have them check what their classmates drew to see how
close it is to the place they described.
For Beginners
Say to the group to write individually a short narrative about any significant event in their life this
month. Tell them to share their work with some of their classmates to comment on their writing.
34
Workplace and Technical Writing, pages 21-22
Discuss with the class the text type workplace and technical writing following the approach used
for the other text types.
D. End-of-Lesson Assessment
Administer items number 6-10 of the diagnostic test previously given at the start of this lesson.
Based on the results, group your students into advanced, intermediate, and beginners but do not
inform the class regarding how you grouped them. Perform differentiated instruction on each group.
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
Remediation
Writing a Resume
Give the group a sample resume of a college student or new graduate. Have them study it and then
instruct them to write their own. Remind them to include the following:
a. job experiences they had (particularly in the summer)
b. organizations they belong to and their position in the organization
c. activities they took charge of in the organization or any other activities they were in charge of, and
d. any other position they had in class or school.
Reinforcement
Writing a Blog
Ask the group to individually write a short blog about an experience they had in school. Remind
them about the characteristics of a blog. Tell them to post their work on the class blog wherein their
classmates will comment.
35
Enrichment
Writing a Response to Literature
Choose a sample text for response to literature text type. Ask the group to read the sample text
silently. Give a sheet of paper to the group containing the following questions:
1. What is the thesis or overall comment of the text?
2. What are the arguments given by the responder?
3. What are the personal insights and evaluation of the text given by the responder?
4. What does the responder say about how the elements affect the quality of the text?
Tell them to discuss the answer to the given questions and have them choose a member to take
notes. Say that they will synthesize their answers into a short essay. Remind them to post the group's
work on the class website or blog.
E. Reflection
Have the students write in their journals the answer to the following questions:
1. What part of the lesson did I do well?
2. What part of the lesson did I not deliver as well as I wanted to?
3. What particular strategy or approach will I do well to employ in other lessons?
4. What aspect of the lesson must I try to improve?
5. How do I feel about my overall performance in this lesson?
Additional Readings
• Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell’s Patterns for College Writing: A Rhetorical Reader
and Guide 11th Edition gives considerable discussion on different text types particularly on re-
search writing as well as recognizing patterns of development. Published by Bedford/St. Martin’s.
• Lynne Gaetz and Suneeti Phadke’s The Writer’s World: Paragraphs and Essays Second Edition
uses genre-process approach to discuss the different patterns of development for paragraphs and
essays. It also has extensive discussion on editing for grammar, convention, and mechanics.
• Prentice Hall’s Writers Solutions Diamond Sourcebook has whole chapters dedicated to response
to literature, research writing, practical and technical writing as well as narration, description,
persuasion, and exposition.
• Prentice Hall’s Grammar and Composition 1 discusses different text types including expository,
persuasive, narrative, and descriptive writing as well as writing about literature and research
writing.
36
Lesson 4 THE WRITING PROCESS
LESSON OVERVIEW
This lesson discusses the activities and characteristics of each step in the writing process. It also explains
the components of good writing. It then proceeds to describe the qualities or traits of good writing.
Learning Competencies
At the end of the lesson, the student should be able to:
1. know the steps in the writing process and the techniques to use in each step;
2. recognize well-written texts and their specific properties;
3. know the writing conventions to be used in written texts; and
4. know the specific techniques to use when dealing with problems of grammar
and usage in texts.
DIAGNOSTIC TEST
This pretest must be done a session before this lesson so that you may have enough time to check it.
Post the following on the board written on any large paper or as an electronic presentation. Ask the
students to write their answers on their notebooks.
37
4. Which component of writing can be achieved through proper use of sequence words, cause-ef-
fect, degree of importance, or spatial-order words?
a. transition
b. introduction
c. elaboration
d. conclusion
5. Which component of good writing provides specific, relevant, and appropriate supporting details
to the main idea or thesis statement through the use of facts and statistics, descriptions, anecdotes,
examples, or quotations?
a. transition
b. introduction
c. elaboration
d. conclusion
6. Which step in the writing process is intended to generate ideas for the writer?
a. editing
b. drafting
c. prewriting
d. revising
7. Which step in the writing process is intended to see how well the issues of purpose, audience,
and genre have been addressed as well as checking if there are ways of improving the style,
word choice, figurative language, sentence variety, and subtlety of meaning?
a. conclusion
b. drafting
c. prewriting
d. revising
8. Which step in the writing process involves making decisions about which form will best reach
the intended audience and accomplish the intended purpose?
a. publishing
b. conclusion
c. drafting
d. prewriting
9. Which of the following is NOT part of the prewriting step?
a. Keep an article file for future reference
b. Edit spelling, punctuation, and grammar
c. Create a cluster map of main and supporting ideas
d. Write reflections about activities right after each activity
10. Which step in the writing process involves turning the prewriting notes and sentences into par-
agraphs?
a. publishing
b. conclusion
c. drafting
d. prewriting
38
Answers:
1. b 6. c
2. d 7. d
3. a 8. a
4. a 9. b
5. c 10. c
Instructional Plan
Make sure that the title of the lesson is written in front for the whole class to see.
A. Motivation
Post the following in front of the class or use electronic presentation:
Read the related article about how employers want excellent written communication skills in
their employees. You may retrieve this article from http://www.mba.com/global/the-gmat-blog-hub/
the-official-gmat-blog/2014/aug/employers-want-communication-skills-in-new-hires.aspx
Say: How do you acquire excellent writing skills? Today we will discuss the writing process.
B. Presentation of Content
READ and DISCUSS
Ask a student to read the lesson outcomes on page 24.
Ask: Why is writing a process? Call on a few students to share their thoughts.
Say: Writing is a process because when one writes, the ideas go through a series of changes or
stages before the written text is finalized. There are five steps in the writing process—prewriting,
drafting, revising, editing, and publishing.
39
Prewriting, pages 24-25
Ask: What is the first step in the writing process? How do you generate ideas when you write?
Discuss prewriting.
Drafting, page 25
Ask: What do you have to do next when you have already gathered enough ideas for your topic?
Discuss drafting.
Revising, page 25
Say: The third step is revising. This involves going through the paper to see how well the issues of
purpose, audience, and genre have been addressed.
Discuss revising.
Administer items number 6 – 10 of the diagnostic test previously given at the start of this lesson.
Based on the results, group your students into advanced, intermediate, and beginners but
do not inform the class regarding how you grouped them. Perform differentiated instruction
on each group.
For Advanced
Refer the group to Activity 19 on page 29 of the textbook. Give the group a piece of nonfiction
writing. Instruct the students to evaluate the introduction, paragraphs, transitions, elaboration,
and conclusion of this text. Then have them conduct a small group discussion with five other
classmates to describe how the aforementioned components are developed in that piece of
writing. Tell them to decide on how they will present that piece of writing in the small-group
discussion.
Say: Summarize your discussion in a two-page essay with one paragraph each for your
evaluation of the introduction, paragraphs, transitions, elaboration, and conclusion.
40
For Intermediate
Present the following topic sentence: "Learning to write well has many benefits." Instruct the
group to elaborate the given topic sentence by supporting it with facts and statistics, descrip-
tions, anecdotes, examples, and quotations from the experts. Allow them to search in the
internet. Tell the group to synthesize the details in a one-page paragraph beginning it with
the given topic sentence.
For Beginners
Have the group review what an effective introduction is and then tell them to come up an
introduction to an essay about the benefits of being able to write well. Remind the group that
this introduction must capture their readers' interest.
D. End-of-Lesson Assessment
Instruct the students to write a critique of at least 300 words of the piece of writing they evaluated in
Activity 19. Provide them a copy of the rubric below and remind them use it or the one they created
in critiquing the writing. Tell them to give their reasons for the ratings they gave the paper. Remind
them to include a copy of the paper in the critique they will submit.
41
Rubric for Critiquing a Written Text
Criteria 4 3 2 1
Introduction Introduction Introduction’s The introduc- The introduc-
made use of a strategy pro- tion’s strategy tion’s strategy
creative strate- duced some made the reader actually made
gy to produce desire on the indifferent to the the reader stop
a strong desire reader to read text. reading the text.
on the reader to further.
read further.
Focus and Coher- All the details All details con- Some details are Most details are
ence connect well to nect well to the not connected not well-connect-
the topic and to topic but some well to the topic ed to the topic or
each other. are not well-con- or to each other. to each other.
nected to each
other.
Elaboration Details were Details were Details were Details were
more than enough to elab- barely enough clearly lacking.
enough to elab- orate the main to elaborate the
orate the main idea. main idea.
idea.
Conclusion The conclusion The conclusion The conclusion The conclusion
provided a good was adequate left the text was actually
closing that made to close the text somewhat hang- inappropriate to
the text notable. but not make it ing. the ending of the
notable. text.
Convention Spelling, gram- Spelling, gram- One element of Two or more ele-
mar, and punc- mar, and punc- convention is not ments of conven-
tuation are all tuation are all done well. tion are not done
excellent. good. well.
Re-administer the whole diagnostic test. Based on the end-of-lesson assessment (critique) and
post-test (diagnostic test re-administered), group your students as to who will undergo remediation,
reinforcement, or enrichment.
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
Remediation
Ask the group to make an infographic about the writing process. Say that their infographic should show
clearly the step-by-step writing process and each step should be explained concisely. Have them post
their infographic on your class website where their classmates their classmates will post their comments.
42
Reinforcement and Enrichment
Ask the groups to make an infographic about the components of good writing. Say that their
infographic should show clearly the components of good writing and each component should be
explained concisely. Have them post their infographic on your class website where their classmates
will post their comments.
E. Reflection
Have the students write in their journals the answer to the following questions:
1. What part of the lesson did I do well?
2. What part of the lesson did I not deliver as well as I wanted to?
3. What particular strategy or approach will I do well to employ in other lessons?
4. What aspect of the lesson must I try to improve?
5. How do I feel about my overall performance in this lesson?
Additional Readings
• The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing Fifth Edition gives important tips and discussions on
how on the characteristics of a good writer, particularly on thinking rhetorically about different
writing issues.
• Elizabeth C. Long’s Resources for Writers with Readings: Paragraphs and Essays, Fourth
Edition has detailed discussions on issues of grammar, convention, and mechanics. It contains
many sample paragraphs and essays for reference. Published by Pearson.
• Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell’s Patterns for college writing: a rhetorical reader
and guide 11th edition has an extensive discussion on the writing process. Their book also
gives considerable discussion on different text types particularly on research writing as well as
recognizing patterns of development. Published by Bedford/St. Martin’s.
• Prentice Hall’s Grammar and Composition 1 has chapters dedicated to the writing process as
well as text types including expository, persuasive, narrative, and descriptive writing as well
as writing about literature and research writing. It also has an extensive discussion on writing
conventions, grammar, and mechanics.
43
UNIT ASSESSMENT
Directions: Match the descriptions in part A with the correct items in part B by writing the corresponding
letter in the blanks.
A.
______1. a literary or artistic category
______2. consists of language with strong musical quality
______3. a form of expository writing
______4. type of writing using sensory expressions
______5. example of this is a critical review
______6. intended to generate ideas
______7. writing that is similar to everyday speech
______8. provide factual information
______9. long, narrative poems
______10. follows an iambic pentameter
______11. a type of resume
______12. concise message for communicating inside companies
______13. all sentences in a paragraph support the topic sentence
______14. writing to explain
______15. involves larger-than-life characters in real-life settings
______16. used to understand an idea that an author does not state
______17. all sentences are connected to each other
______18. combining ideas or conclusions to come up with something new
______19. make an image in your mind as described by the text you are reading
______20. ways of organizing writing
______21. turning notes into sentences and paragraphs
______22. words, phrases, and sentences that show connection
______23. a form of writing for media
______24. an example of this is historical fiction
______25. a story told in dialogue by performers
B.
A. tall tales B. pro-con C. genre
D. descriptive E. response to literature F. synthesizing
G. prose H. sonnet I. informational text
J. epic K. drama L. memo
M. unity N. transitions O. expository text
P. poetry Q. inferring R. analyzing
S. prewriting T. visualizing U. targeted
V. patterns of development W. drafting X. coherence
Y. blogs Z. narrative
44
Answers:
1. C
2. P
3. B
4. D
5. E
6. S
7. G
8. I
9. J
10. H
11. U
12. L
13. M
14. O
15. A
16. Q
17. X
18. F
19. T
20. V
21. W
22. N
23. Y
24. Z
25. K
45
Unit 2 Reading, Writing, and Thinking Strategies
Across Text Types
UNIT OVERVIEW
This unit explains how to read and write narrative, descriptive, persuasive, and expository essays. The
lessons provide two samples of each kind of essay, discusses their characteristics, and guides students in
writing their own sample of each essay. A genre-process approach is used in each lesson. Components
of each lesson in this chapter include active strategies for reading a particular piece of writing, com-
prehension and critical thinking questions, generating ideas for writing, organizing the essay, applying
language skills, peer editing, revising, and publishing online. Each lesson also has a section on acquiring
a related 21st century skill.
CONTENT STANDARD
The learners understand the relationship of a written text and the context in which it was developed.
PERFORMANCE STANDARD
The learners write a 1000-word critique of a selected text on the basis of its claim/s, context, and prop-
erties as a written material.
LESSON OVERVIEW
This lesson discusses narrative writing by providing background discussion on two subtypes—personal
essay and memoir. The genre-approach is realized in this lesson by exposing the students to the text
and guiding them in understanding the purpose, structure, and audience of narrative texts. The process
approach is realized by walking the students through the writing process including generating ideas and
specific language skills needed in writing a narrative text type.
Learning Competencies
After studying this lesson, the senior high school student is able to:
1. identify the context in which a narrative text type is developed;
2. describe a narrative text type as connected discourse;
3. identify properties of well-written narrative text types;
4. apply critical reading as looking for ways of thinking and as reasoning in reading narrative text
types;
5. compose a personal essay and a memoir; and
6. demonstrate the 21st century skill of collaborative simulation and modeling.
DIAGNOSTIC TEST
This pretest must be done a session before this lesson so that you may have enough time to check it.
Assess your students by asking them to write about an experience they had. Because this is a pretest,
DO NOT give them any pointers in writing the essay including length of essay, descriptions, or convention.
46
You can assess your students by using the following rubric:
Instructional Plan
Make sure that the title of the lesson is written in front for the whole class to see.
A. Motivation
Sharing an unforgettable experience
Tell the class about an unforgettable experience you had. In narrating your story, make sure you
provide enough background. Use vivid language in narrating your story. Use colorful adjectives and
adverbs as well as words that indicate sequence such as then, before, after that, and while.
Ask: Who would like to tell us about an unforgettable experience? Let the students tell their
story individually.
B. Presentation of Content
READ and DISCUSS
Genre Focus – Personal Essay, pages 32-40
Say to the class that in this lesson, you will talk about narrative text types, particularly a personal
essay and a memoir. Tell them to note that when you say "narrative text types" you mean text types
that have narration as pattern of development.
Narrative writing tells a story. Because a personal essay and a memoir both tell of stories
about actual events, they are considered as nonfictional narrative.
47
Active Strategies for Reading a Personal Essay, page 33
Ask: Which of the active reading strategies we studied in the previous unit are effective in reading
a personal essay? Why? Call on several students to answer.
Say to the class that visualizing is one of the effective reading strategies in reading a personal
essay. Call on an individual to explain why. Ask: What do you do when you visualize something?
Say to the class: When you visualize, you make an image of something in your mind. You also
think about what you hear, feel, taste, and hear. Visualizing helps you enjoy the story more. Visu-
alizing is especially important in reading descriptive and narrative texts. The skill of visualization
takes practice to develop. You need to keep on imagining what you read. In reading the text, pay
attention to adjectives that describe shapes, colors, feelings, and sounds and also specific verbs and
nouns. Keep on imagining even if you feel like you do not imagine the situation correctly. Doing
background reading about the text using references that have accurate pictures can aid you in your
effort to imagine what the text says.
Direct the class to read the other active strategies for reading a personal essay on page 33 and
then discuss how these strategies will be used in reading the given personal essay.
Lead up Questions
After the class has finished reading the background and author profile, ask the questions on page 33.
Vocabulary Preview
Tell the students that in reading Malcolm X’s "Coming to an Awareness of Language," they may
encounter some unfamiliar words. Discuss the words in the vocabulary preview.
After finishing the vocabulary preview, direct the students to page 34 and have them read the text.
Activity 1
To further help the students understand the narrative text type, have them write/pre-
pare a brief timetable of how Malcolm X improved his reading/writing skills. Tell them
to use the graphic organizer on page 36 of the textbook. Allow time for the students
to fill out the graphic organizer. Go around and check if anyone is having difficulties
in filling out the graphic organizer and clarify any issues they have about filling it out.
After the students have completed the graphic organizer, instruct them to form a group
in three and let them take turns in sharing the process by which they have improved
their own reading and writing abilities.
48
Writing Your Own Personal Essay, page 37-40
Preparing to Write, pages 37-38
Ask: What is the first thing you need to do to prepare yourself in writing your personal essay?
Tone <Identify the tone you want to use in your personal essay here.>
Allow time for the students to write in their table. Go around and check if anyone is having
difficulties in filling out the table and clarify any issues they have about filling out the table.
49
of the time period. In the body of your essay, explain the events according to your organizational
plan. In the conclusion, recap how this time period affected you. Use the structure of writing an
essay discussed in the previous section of this lesson.
Allow the students time in writing their first draft.
Go around the class and pay attention to individual students who need help in writing their first
draft. If they are at a loss as to what to write next, refer them to the organizational plan they have
previously written.
For periods:
Put periods after a complete sentence.
My life changed when I met this person.
For commas:
Put a comma after a dependent clause when the clause is at the start of a sentence:
Because I worked on my homework immediately, I had more time for other stuff.
Dependent clauses usually start with words like because, although, even though, while, when,
after, or before.
Do not put a comma when the sentence starts with a complete thought.
I had more time for other stuff because I worked on my homework immediately.
Put commas before and after a clause that serves as additional information.
Josephine, who studies in a public school, knows the lyrics to the city hymn.
Do not put commas before and after a clause that qualifies a noun.
Children who study in public schools know the lyrics to the city hymn.
50
Editing for Organization
Direct the class to read the questions on page 39 on how to edit for organization.
Demonstrate how to edit a draft.
After the discussion, instruct the students to exhange papers with their seatmate. Have them edit
their classmate's essay. Remind them to use the proofreading marks they learned in unit 1.
After editing, tell the class to study the edits of their classmare and have them proceed to re-
vising their work.
Publishing Online
After the students have revised their work and assessed their classmates’ work, instruct them to
publish their work online. Say: Publish your work online by first designing a strong presentation.
Lay out your work as a feature article, using appropriate pictures and captions. Finally, publish your
essay by posting it as part of your online blog or post a copy on our online social networking group.
Assess your students’ personal essays by using the holistic rubric given at the start of this
lesson. Based on the rubric, you can identify who are advanced, intermediate, and beginners.
Perform differentiated instruction for each group.
For Advanced
Say to the group: We will also edit for organization. Organization refers to how an essay is
structured. It deals with the flow of ideas including how they move from one to another. In
editing your own work ask yourself the following questions:
1. Does the beginning introduce the time period?
2. Does the body of the essay provide events in the best logical or chronological order?
3. Does the conclusion sum up the time period?
4. Does the essay have effective transitions from sentence to sentence and paragraph
to paragraph?
Tell them to edit their work based on their answers to the questions.
For Intermediate
Give a short lecture about the specific deficiency you noticed in your during-the-lesson as-
sessment (it may be punctuation, lack of colorful words, sequencing, etc.). You may include
the beginners group in this lecture. Say: Read your classmate’s work and see what needs to
be edited. I noticed that many of you need to work on <mention the deficiency you noticed
in your during-the-lesson assessment>. Focus on that. Allow the students to edit and revise
their work.
51
For Beginners
Give a short lecture about the specific deficiency you noticed in your during-the-lesson as-
sessment (it may be punctuation, lack of colorful words, sequencing, etc.). You may include
the intermediate group in this lecture. Say to the group: read your classmate’s work and see
what needs to be edited. I noticed that many of you need to work on <mention the deficiency
you noticed in your during-the-lesson assessment>. Focus on that. Allow the students to edit
and revise their work.
A. Motivation
Sharing an unforgettable experience
The following are two ways you can motivate your students in reading and writing a memoir.
Present a short documentary about World War II in the Philippines. Find a short movie clip that
shows the political situation after the war, preferably one that mentions Philippine independ-
ence from America. Also, it would be good if the documentary shows the buildings destroyed
in the war. Try to find a documentary that does not highlight the horrible atrocities of the war
because this may distract from the topic and shock the students too much. Reserve that kind
documentary for another day. Instead focus on one that mentions Philippine independence
and Carlos P. Romulo.
If you cannot find a suitable documentary, you can instead show pictures of the devastation
in Manila. Be sure to make properly researched comments about the devastation and the
particular buildings destroyed. Also, show pictures of Carlos P. Romulo while giving some
comments on his activities particularly his stint as the fourth president of the United Nation’s
General Assembly.
B. Presentation of Content
READ and DISCUSS
Characteristics of a Memoir, page 40
Ask: What is a memoir? What type of writing is it? Is it a fiction or nonfiction? Have a few students
to answer the questions and another group to share the memoirs they have read.
Say to the class: we will now discuss the genre called memoir. It is also a narrative writing because
it tells a story. Because a memoir tells a story about an actual event, it is a nonfictional narrative.
Instruct the class to read the characteristics of a memoir on page 40.
52
Say that aside from previewing, the students will also use other active reading strategies such
as predicting in which they will try to predict what will happen next in the story and understanding
sequence of events wherein they will try to understand the sequence of events as the writer narrates
them. Discuss these active strategies.
Activity
Say to the class: A story board is used by animators, motion picture directors, or scriptwriters
to show the sequence of events. Create a simple story board about what happened during the
first Independence Day celebration by getting around 4-5 pieces of white paper in which you
can draw a scene and write a few words describing it. Before you draw, get a scratch paper in
which you will write a few words that will describe a scene. Number the descriptions. This way,
you need not make erasures on the actual pieces of paper if you change your mind or made
mistakes. After finalizing your descriptions, you can then transfer each of them to a piece of
paper. After that, you can start drawing. Those of you who are good at drawing please give
some tips to the ones who are struggling to draw.
Allow the class time to do the activity.
After the students have finished their storyboards, have them post their work on the walls of
the classroom and allow them to look at their classmates' work and give some comments.
53
Writing Your Own Memoir, pages 43-46
Preparing to Write
Generating Ideas for Writing, page 43
Say to the class: Think about a memorable occasion that you experienced. Think about why you
want to write about that experience and to whom you want your readers to be. In doing so, you are
thinking of a purpose and audience for writing. Write the details in short form on a table similar
to the one on page 43 of the textbook. You can also include the people, activities, as well as your
feelings and recollections about the event.
Give an ample time for the students to complete their table. Go around and check if anyone is
having difficulties and clarify any issues they have.
After they have accomplished their tables, have the students form a group of three. Tell them to
take turns in sharing what they experienced. Say to the class: Let your classmates ask you questions
about the event and note down any of their comments you find significant.
Ask: What is tone? What overall feeling would you like to express in your writing? Say: Often,
the kind of experience sets the tone. For example, writing about a sad experience means the tone will
be sad while writing about a humorous experience means the tone will be humorous. However, it is
not uncommon for experienced writers to choose a tone that may sound different from the feeling
of the one who experienced the event. After thinking it through, write down the tone of your writing
on the line on page 44 of your textbook.
54
Writing a First Draft, page 45
Say: You are now ready to write your first draft. Write your draft by expanding on what you wrote
in the beginning-middle-end chart. Write especially about what was most significant to you in the
whole experience. Your beginning sentence can help you build momentum for your writing. Enhance
your essay by including the ideas you have in the table you filled out when you generated ideas.
Do not forget the tone you chose for your essay. In writing your essay, make sure you include the
background facts and events you have previously written.
Go around the class. Pay attention to individual students who need help in writing their first
draft. If they are at a loss as to what to write next, refer them to their beginning-middle-end chart.
Editing, page 45
Say that after writing their draft, have the students work in pairs and exchange drafts. Tell them to
edit for conventions and organizations like what they did in their personal essay. Remind them to
use the proofreading marks they learned in unit 1. After editing, give them ample time to consider
their classmate's edits.
Revising, page 46
Instruct the class to pay attention to the parts their classmate marked out and then give them enough
time to revise.
Publishing Online
Tell the class to publish their revised memoirs. You may also encourage them to post a copy on your
school online bulletin board or send their friends a softcopy through email.
55
Acquiring 21st Century Skills: Collaborative Simulation and Modeling, page 47
Say to the class: This part is intended to help you acquire 21st century skills. For this lesson, I will
try to help you acquire the skills of collaborative simulation and modeling. Simulation involves
being able to analyze and create models of real-world processes. One important component of this
is to predict what will happen next.
Divide the class into four groups. Ask the groups to do the activity on page 47 of the textbook.
Tell them to collaborate with their group mates and think of a relatively simple real-world process
that they can visualize in paper. Examples of real-world processes could be:
• Borrowing and returning a book from the library
• Creating a scrap book
• Buying an item from a store
• Grooming a pet
Say: Diagram or draw the stages of the process you chose. Write some comments about those
stages. In addition, draw or write down the conditions necessary to reach each stage including
whatever input is needed. Then write what possible condition can arise from that stage including
whatever output is produced by that stage.
Let the groups work collaboratively. Go around and note any disruptive actions by individual
students that may hinder collaborative work. If the action is small enough, you may deal with it on
the spot. If the situation is complicated, deal with the problem later and help the students refocus
on the work at hand.
Say to the class: When you have completed your model, it would be easy for you to predict what
would happen given a stage and the conditions existing at a particular time.
Allot a space in the board for students to draw their model. You may also use electronic presentation.
Ask the students to present their model before the class. Make sure that they identify at the start
what real-world process they are simulating. After each presentation, you may ask questions that
show students’ understanding of the process such as—
a. What will/can happen after <give a situation in their model>?
b. What is needed in order for <situation in their model> to occur or happen?
After presentation, tell the students to save their work as an image file and have them post it on
your class website wherein their classmates will give constructive comments.
56
D. End-of-Lesson Assessment
Assess your students’ memoir by using the holistic rubric given at the start of this lesson. Based on
the rubric, you can identify who are advanced, intermediate, and beginners. Look over the papers of
the beginners group. Underline any word you find to be misused or inappropriate for the sentence.
Perform differentiated instruction for each group.
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
Remediation
Using technology to find more precise words
Say to the group: I have underlined several words in your paper that may be misused or inappropriate
in your sentence. Use your dictionary/thesaurus app in your smartphone or a print and list down alter-
native words for each of the underlined words. Find a partner and discuss with your partner the better
word in your list that can replace the underlined word. Rewrite your memoir with the replacement words.
Reinforcement
Using the past perfect
Say to the group: In the Applying language skills portion of this lesson on memoirs, you were taught
about the past perfect tense. This means that given a point in the past, the action was already finished.
The past perfect is intended to express the idea that a given situation not only happened in the past but
was also finished in the past. The emphasis in past perfect tense is that the action was indeed completed
at a point in the past. Look at your classmate’s paper and discuss with him or her whether a particular
verb in their paper is better expressed as past perfect instead of just simple past tense. Revise the tense
and aspect combination of the verb in some sentences in your memoir if you agree with your classmate
that past perfect better expresses your idea.
Enrichment
Adding drama through the use of historical present
Say to the group: In English narratives, a sense of drama can be created by creating the illusion that
the events are happening right at the present moment. Storytellers seem to take their listeners or readers
into the story through the use of a device called historical present. This is done by using present tense
verbs instead of past tense even when the event happened in the past. It produces the feeling that the
events are happening right now and the reader is part of the story. Notice how more dramatic a portion
of Carlos P. Romulo’s memoir might be if the historical present is used:
“There is a silence all over the park and everyone is on his feet. The sky is clouding and a light
rain is beginning to fall. I see MacArthur standing with his hand in snappy military salute. Then we
all watch as the American flag comes down slowly from its place against the sky, and in its stead,
slowly, rises the flag of the Philippines. All around us in this crowded park there is the sound of
weeping, and I do not think there is a face in all this crowd—American or Malayan—that is not
touched by emotion.”
57
Say to the group: Let your classmate read your memoir and recommend a portion that may do
better with a little more drama. Add drama into that portion by employing historical present—using
present tense instead of past tense. After you finish retouching that portion of your memoir with his-
torical present, let your classmate read it and see if there is indeed an additional element of drama.
E. Reflection
Have the students write in their journals the answer to the following questions:
1. What part of the lesson did I do well?
2. What part of the lesson did I not deliver as well as I wanted to?
3. What particular strategy or approach will I do well to employ in other lessons?
4. What aspect of the lesson must I try to improve?
5. How do I feel about my overall performance in this lesson?
Additional Readings
• Lynne Gaetz and Suneeti Phadke’s The Writer’s world: Paragraphs and Essays discusses
narration and other patterns of development with an emphasis on how to develop paragraphs
and essays. Published by Pearson Education.
• Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell’s Patterns for College Writing: A Rhetorical
Reader and Guide 11th Edition contains a lot of very good sample essays. It emphasizes
critical reading including recognizing patterns of development. Published by Bedford/St.
Martin’s.
• Elizabeth C. Long’s Resources for Writers (with Readings): Paragraphs and Essays dis-
cusses narration as well as other patterns of development with an emphasis on organizing
and linking ideas. It also discusses punctuation and grammar. Published by Pearson.
• The McGraw-Hill Guide: Writing for College, Writing for Life has a section on critical
thinking, reading, and writing. It gives a very extensive discussion on writing based on the
purposes for writing.
• Prentice Hall’s Grammar and Composition 1 discusses different text types including narrative
writing. It also discusses punctuation and other convention.
• Joseph F. Trimmer and Maxine Hairston’s The Riverside Reader discusses comparison and
contrast focusing on the audience and purpose of the essay. They discuss how the audience’s
familiarity with one or the other item being compared affects one’s strategy in writing. They
also discuss other patterns of development using a similar approach. They contain very good
samples of text types for reading. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
58
Lesson 2 READING AND WRITING EXPOSITORY TEXT TYPES
LESSON OVERVIEW
This lesson discusses expository writing by providing background discussion on two subtypes— com-
parison and contrast and credo. The genre-approach is realized in this lesson by exposing the students to
the text and guiding them in understanding the purpose, structure, and audience of expository texts. The
process approach is realized by walking the students through the writing process including generating
ideas and specific language skills needed in writing an expository text type.
Learning Competencies
After studying this lesson, the senior high school student is able to:
1. recognize the generic features and structure of an expository text type;
2. determine the specific reading and thinking strategies to use with expository text types;
3. follow the steps in the writing process and the techniques to use in each step;
4. determine the specific techniques to use when dealing with problems of grammar and usage in
expository text types;
5. write an expository text type using comparison-and-contrast pattern of development; and
6. demonstrate the 21st century social and cross-cultural skills.
DIAGNOSTIC TEST
This pretest must be done a session before this lesson so that you may have enough time to check it.
Assess your students by asking them to write about an experience they had. Because this is a pretest,
DO NOT give them any pointers in writing the essay including length of essay, descriptions, or convention.
You can assess your students by using the following rubric:
Instructional Plan
Make sure that the title of the lesson is written in front for the whole class to see.
59
A. Motivation
You may do any of the following to motivate your students:
A Comparison-Contrast Video
Show a video discussing the similarities or differences between two things. After the video
ask: Can you recall a similarity/difference between <thing 1> and <thing 2> mentioned in the
video? If yes, give one.
Let the students answer until most of the similarities/differences have been recalled.
B. Presentation of Content
READ and DISCUSS, pages 48-63
Genre Focus: Comparison-and-contrast Essay, pages 48-58
Tell the class that today’s lesson will be about expository text type, specifically a comparison-and-con-
trast essay. Say: Note that when we say ‘expository text type’ we mean text types that have expository
as pattern of development. Have the students review what an expository text type is.
Say: An expository text type gives detailed information and explanation about a specific topic.
It starts with an effective introduction giving a broad explanation about the issue or topic and con-
cludes with a good restatement of the explanation.
Discuss the characteristics of an expository text type.
60
the writer to use the first sentence of a paragraph to summarize the entire paragraph. You can there-
fore obtain a general understanding of an essay by reading the first sentence or first few sentences
of each paragraph. Another way is to pay attention to text structures such as sidebars, photograph
captions, text in bold or italics, headings and subheadings, charts and graphs, summaries, and other
supporting texts and graphics. These items provide clues as well as highlight important features and
ideas in the text.
Ask the class what other reading strategies they can use in reading a comparison-and-contrast essay.
Analyzing/Critiquing, page 49
Ask: What are the characteristics of an effective comparison-and-contrast essay? Discuss these
characteristics enumerated on page 49.
Activity
A. Say: In the table on page 52 of the textbook, write down key phrases or words from “A Fable
for Tomorrow” that you think show the differences between the description of the town at the
beginning of the story and how it changed by the end of the story. Place the first set of de-
scriptions under the title ‘Town’ and the second set under ‘Silent Spring Town.’
Allow time for the students to fill out the table. Go around and check if some are having
difficulties and clarify any issues they have.
61
B. Ask the students to work in groups of 4-5 members. Tell them to use the adjectives, nouns,
and key phrases they have written in the first table to draw two separate pictures reflecting
how the town changed. Allow them to use crayons or any coloring materials to highlight the
differences.
62
Writing a First Draft, pages 54-57
Say to the class: Now that you understand how to organize your essay, let us now discuss how to
write your first draft. You need to write the introductory paragraph. It should introduce the topic,
imply or tell the importance of the topic, and provide a thesis statement that expresses the focus of
comparison.
Discuss the introductory paragraph as discussed in pages 55-56 of the textbook.
Say to the class: Use the template on page 56 of the textbook in writing your introductory par-
agraph. You also need to write the body of the essay. Write the body by transforming the items in
your outline into sentences. Direct the class to pages 56-57 to learn how to compose the body of
their essay. SayL You then need to write your ending. An effective ending helps the reader reflect
on the message of the essay with new understanding and appreciation. There are a number of ways
to conclude an essay.
Discuss how to write the ending according to the discussion on page 57 of the textbook.
Allow time for the students to write. Go around the class and pay attention to individual students
who need help in writing their first draft.
Revising, page 58
Revising for organization
After the students have edited and returned their classmate’s work, say: Now that your classmates
have edited your paper, review the comments and suggestions they have written on the peer-editing
rubric. You may incorporate the significant ideas from them.
Allow the students to incorporate the changes they need to make. Clarify any questions they
have about their work.
Tell the students that before they modify their draft, have them consider the additional revision
questions on page 58 that will further help them evaluate their work.
a. Is the purpose for the paper made clear in the opening paragraph?
b. Does the paper have a sense of audience?
c. Are transitions used effectively?
Instruct the class to revised their work according to their answers to the questions.
63
Assessing your peers, page 58
Before you ask your students to publish their output online, tell them to work with another classmate
to help them take a final look. Instruct them to focus on finding any parts that could be made clearer,
and have them look for unnecessary details to eliminate. Instruct them to use the peer-editing rubric
once again and see if there is an improvement in scores.
For Advanced
Creating a point-by-point contrast essay
Say to the group: You did very well in writing a point-by-point comparison essay. Now, I am
challenging you to write a point-by-point contrast essay. To do so, you will need to write a new
outline showing the differences between the two subjects you focused on. You will also write a
new introductory paragraph. You will also write the body by transforming the elements in your
outline into sentences. Then you will also write a good ending to your essay. Writing a contrast
essay requires you to use contrast transition words.
Re-discuss contrast transition words.
After discussing the contrast transition words, instruct the group to start writing their point-
by-point contrast essay.
After some time, go around the class and check how the students are doing in writing their
essay. Clarify any questions they have.
For Intermediate
Transforming a point-by-point comparison essay into a subject-by-subject comparison essay
Say to the group: You have created an essay that discusses the similarities of two subjects
in point-by-point fashion. Any essay written in point-by-point format can also be written in sub-
ject-by-subject format. The basic organization of a subject-by-subject comparison essay involves
stating the characteristics of the first subject in a paragraph. The second paragraph will then
state how similar the second subject is to the first subject in terms of characteristics. The second
paragraph may or may not state the point of comparison. For example, a sentence in the second
paragraph may look like the following:
Jose Rizal was similar to Andres Bonifacio in that Jose
Rizal also came from the Tagalog region. Jose Rizal
came from Calamba, Laguna.
64
Or
Like Andres Bonifacio, Jose Rizal also came from the
Tagalog region. Jose Rizal came from Calamba, Laguna.
Instruct the group to revise their point-by-point comparison essay to make it a subject-by-subject
comparison essay.
After some time, go around the class and check how the students are doing in rewriting their
essay. Clarify any questions they have.
For Beginners
Explicitly stating the point of comparison
Say to the group: You have created an essay that discusses the similarities of two subjects
in point-by-point fashion. Your essay will be clearer, however, if you explicitly state the point of
comparison of the two subjects. For example, if you are discussing how similar two people’s levels
of education are, you may state something like the following:
Andres Bonifacio and Jose Rizal both came from the
Tagalog region. (This states the point of similarity)
Andres Bonifacio came from Tondo, Manila while Jose
Rizal came from Calamba, Laguna.
Instruct the group to go back to their essay and explicitly state the point of comparison for each
comparison they made.
After some time, go around the class and check if the students have written the point of com-
parison explicitly. Clarify any questions they have.
A. Motivation
Give a short narration about the Katipunan, particularly how Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Jacinto
worked to make it a very honorable society whose members exemplified a high level of honor and
morality. Mention that one of the cornerstone pieces of writing in the Katipunan is the Kartilya, one
of the few revolutionary writings that emphasize respect for women. You may obtain information
from www.kasaysayan-kkk.info (the admirable work of Jim Richardson, deriving sources from the
military archive of Madrid, Spain).
B. Presentation of Content
READ and DISCUSS, pages 59-62
Say to the class: We will now discuss the genre called credo.
Ask: What is credo? Why is credo categorized as an expository text? What is its purpose?
Say: A credo is a statement of the beliefs or aims that guide a person’s or a group of people’s
actions. It should be clear and specific. When it is read, it must specify a stronger sense of self and a
stronger sense of purpose. The language may be straightforward. A credo is usually a list of beliefs
and values.
65
Active Strategies for Reading a Credo, page 59
Ask: What active strategies can we use in reading a credo?
Direct the pupils to read the strategies on page 59. Call on a volunteer to read aloud the text.
Say that in reading the sample credo, the class will use the active reading strategy comparing
and contrasting. They will compare and contrast their belief system with that stated in the credo to
determine the similarities and differences in ideals of the Filipinos of today and those in the past.
Say that the students can also use the other active reading strategy, that is, synthesizing.
Recall the skills involved in synthesizing.
Activity
Divide the class into groups of five and tell them to work on the following:
a. Pretend that you are going to create a group for a particular noble cause.
b. Find a unique name for your group.
c. Draw an insignia for your group.
d. Think of your goals, aims, or purposes.
e. Prepare a credo or core belief.
f. Present your work in class including your insignia and especially your credo.
66
Writing Your Own Credo, pages 61-62
Preparing to Write, page 61
Generating ideas for writing
Have the class list down on a sheet of paper what exactly they believe in. Then tell them to think
of how often they check themselves to reaffirm what it is they believe. Remind them to just write
down what comes to their mind without worrying about grammar or punctuation errors. Tell them
to consider the questions on page 61.
a. Do you believe that you have the right to create your own life?
b. Do you believe you can learn new things if you commit yourself to a regular practice?
c. Do you think you have the potential to create opportunities for yourself?
d. Do you trust in your ability to help others create their own life?
e. Do you have the control over your reactions to people and outer events?
f. Do you think you have the ability to forge significant relationships?
Tell the students to check out the examples on page 61 of their textbook.
67
Editing, page 62
Editing for voice, word choice, and sentence fluency
Now that the students have written their first draft, tell them to proceed to the next step which is
editing. Like in the previous editing, instruct them to ask a classmate to edit their paper. Say that
they have to edit for voice, word choice, and sentence fluency.
Ask: How do you edit for voice? What is voice in writing?
Say: The voice refers to the tone or mood your writing expresses to the reader. Voice can be any
emotion known to humans— serious, sad, happy, confused, angry, and many others. Because you
are writing a credo, the voice you expect in the paper is serious. In editing for voice, simply read
the paper and be conscious of the feeling you get. Check if it is serious from start to finish.
Ask: What do you have to remember in editing for word choice and sentence fluency?
Say: In editing for word choice, you can underline any word that seems to be inappropriate
either because it is too/insufficiently intense, is not part of the domain related to words beside it, or
simply because the word is not the usual one used with another word (this is called collocation). In
editing for sentence fluency, simply read the sentence and see if there are grammatical errors that
cause you to stop and try to make sense of the sentence.
Have the students edit their classmate’s work. Instruct them to use the table on page 62 of their
textbook as a guide for editing.
Revising, page 62
Revising for voice, word choice, and sentence fluency
After the students have edited and returned their classmate’s work, say to the class: Now that you
got your paper back, you can revise your essay by going over the suggested corrections and think-
ing of alternative ways to revise your work. To help you improve your work, try to visualize once
more what you really believe in life and how you actually live by the principles you have set. Refer
to the guide in page 62 your textbook. Revise your essay and show it to your peers for assessment.
Rating Description
Excellent The structure, word choice, and content of the credo work together
to produce a very sensible set of beliefs.
Average There are significant insufficiencies in structure and word choice, but
they are not enough to prevent the author from expressing a sensible
set of beliefs.
Acceptable The reader can sense an attempt on the part of the writer to produce
a sensible set of beliefs, but some elements of structure may be sig-
nificantly inconsistent with the overall purpose of the credo.
68
Publishing Online, page 62
After the students have revised their work and assessed their classmates’ work, instruct them about
publishing online. Say to the class: Find an artist and ask him/her to draw a picture based on what he/she
sees in your credo. Incorporate your credo into the drawing. Convert your work into portable document
format (pdf) and post it as part of your profile on our class website or our social networking site.
D. End-of-Lesson Assessment
Assess your students’ credo by using the holistic rubric given in the assessing-your-peer part of
this lesson. Based on the rubric, you can identify who are advanced, intermediate, and beginners.
Perform differentiated instruction for each group.
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
Remediation
Improving the credo by limiting its scope
Say to the group: You can improve your credo by focusing only on a specific theme. Think of a theme
such as relationships, honesty, justice, responsibility, or any other them. Let your credo revolve only
around that theme and see how it improves your work.
Reinforcement
Improving your credo by being more specific
Say to the group: It is possible that many of the ideas you expressed in your credo are not applicable in all
circumstances. Show your credo to your classmate and let him or her think of circumstances in which your
ideas may not be applicable. Let your classmate make notes on your credo using pencil based on his or her
ideas about the exceptional circumstances. For example, you wrote in your credo that you must give your
love fully to someone, but then your classmate might comment that there are exceptional circumstances
in which you cannot fully give your love to someone like when that person does not want your love. When
you get back your credo, note the comments and write additional words that will address the exceptions.
69
Enrichment
Turning a credo into a song
Secure a legal copy of Whitney Houston’s “The Greatest Love of All.”
Say to the group: What do you think is the highest level of love a person can achieve? Allow individual
opinions to answer without being challenged. I will now let you hear a credo in the form of a song.
As you listen to the song, I want you to pay attention to the beliefs of the singer as expressed through
the lyrics of the song. Play the song for the group. After the song, ask: What is the overall belief of the
author? Allow for individual answers. Say: Just like Whitney Houston’s song, you can turn your credo
or elements in it into a song. This is the time to let your creativity work well. Each of you will try to
come up with an initial tune for his or her own credo. When one of you seems to have a good one, let
your classmates focus on that person’s credo and try to build up a song from that credo. This way you
will collaborate to come up with a song. You will later sing your song before the class.
E. Reflection
Have the students write in their journals the answer to the following questions:
1. What part of the lesson did I do well?
2. What part of the lesson did I not deliver as well as I wanted to?
3. What particular strategy or approach will I do well to employ in other lessons?
4. What aspect of the lesson must I try to improve?
5. How do I feel about my overall performance in this lesson?
Additional Readings
• Paul Eschholz and Alfred Rosa’s Subject and Strategy: A Rhetoric Reader discusses the advan-
tages and disadvantages of point-by-point and block style comparison and contrast. They contain
excellent sample essays for reading. Published by St. Martin’s Press.
• Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell’s Patterns for College Writing: A Rhetorical Reader
and Guide 11th Edition emphasizes critical reading including recognizing patterns of devel-
opment. It contains many new sample essays for reading. Published by Bedford/St. Martin’s.
• The McGraw-Hill Guide: Writing for College, Writing for Life has a section on critical thinking,
reading, and writing. It gives a very extensive discussion on writing based on the purposes for
writing.
• Prentice Hall’s Grammar and Composition 1 discusses different text types including expository
writing. It also extensively discusses punctuation, grammar, and style.
• Joseph F. Trimmer and Maxine Hairston’s The Riverside Reader discusses comparison and
contrast focusing on the audience and purpose of the essay. They discuss how the audience’s
familiarity with one or the other item being compared affects one’s strategy in writing. They
also discuss other text types using a similar approach. They contain very good samples of text
types for reading. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
• Joy Wingersky’s Writing Paragraphs and Essays discusses writing comparison and contrast es-
says focusing on the mechanics of writing. The sample essays have guides on the side to show
particular elements of the essay. Published by Wadsworth Publishing Company.
70
Lesson 3 READING AND WRITING PERSUASIVE TEXT TYPES
LESSON OVERVIEW
This lesson discusses persuasive writing by providing background discussion on two subtypes—persuasive
essay and editorial column. The genre approach is realized in this lesson by exposing the students to
the text and guiding them in understanding the purpose, structure, and audience of persuasive texts. The
process approach is realized by walking the students through the writing process with an emphasis on
crafting and organizing arguments needed in writing a persuasive text type.
Lesson Outcomes
After studying this lesson, the senior high school student is able to:
1. identify the context in which a persuasive text type is developed;
2. describe a persuasive text type as connected discourse;
3. identify characteristics of well-written persuasive text types;
4. apply critical reading as looking for ways of thinking and as reasoning in reading persuasive
text types;
5. write a persuasive essay and an editorial column; and
6. demonstrate the 21st century skill of evaluating the credibility of an author.
DIAGNOSTIC TEST
This pretest must be done a session before this lesson so that you may have enough time to check it.
Assess your students by asking them to write about an experience they had. Because this is a pretest,
DO NOT give them any pointers in writing the essay including length of essay, descriptions, or convention.
You can assess your students by using the following rubric:
Instructional Plan
Make sure that the title of the lesson is written in front for the whole class to see.
71
A. Motivation
The following are ways to motivate students to read and write a persuasive essay:
Videos showing the benefits of certain exercises
Play short videos that show the benefits of certain exercises especially ones that are popular
nowadays. Ask: What do you think are some benefits of exercise? Allow students to individually
answer. Play some videos showing the benefits of different exercises and tell the students
to remember what those benefits are. After the students watch the videos, ask them to give
an exercise that was mentioned and its benefits. Allow the students to answer individually.
B. Presentation of Content
READ and DISCUSS, pages 64-83
Genre Focus—Persuasive Essay, pages 64-74
Begin the lesson by stating the topic—reading and writing persuasive text types. Ask: What is the
main objective of a persuasive essay?
Say: The purpose of a persuasive essay is to persuade the reader to take the same stance as the
author’s about an issue or concept. It may also be intended to persuade the reader to take a course
of action. Note that when we say ‘persuasive text type’ we mean text types that have persuasion
as a pattern of development. It begins with an introduction in which the author identifies the issue
and clearly states his or her opinion about it. It then provides several arguments that support the
author’s opinion. These arguments are presented in a logical manner. Non-logical arguments may
be included by the author. However, bear in mind that these should not be the substance of the essay
but merely something to spice up the essay.
72
Reading a Persuasive Essay, pages 65-68
Preparing to Read the Text, pages 65-66
Ask the class to read silently the background and author profile on pages 65-66.
Activity
Have the class draw the benefits of walking given by the author using the graphic organizer on
page 68. Allow time for the students to fill out the graphic organizer. You may also ask them to do
it on a sheet of bond paper. Go around and check if some are having difficulties and clarify any
issues they have.
73
• First, state your position. Start your persuasive essay by stating the issue or concept and your
clear declaration of your position or opinion about it. This will serve as your thesis sentence.
Write your thesis sentence on the lines on page 69 of your textbook.
• Next, enumerate the effects of the physical activity you are endorsing. The graphic organizer
you constructed when you generated ideas will be very useful.
Allow time for the students to write. Go around and check if anyone is having difficulties in
organizing a persuasive essay.
74
Revising, pages 72-73
Revising for misplaced parts
After the students have edited and returned their classmate’s work, tell them to rewrite just the sen-
tences that have misplaced parts and then have them return their work to their classmates to check
the improvement.
Allow the students revise their essays. Go around and clarify any issue a student may have
regarding misplaced parts.
Publishing online
After the students have revised their work and assessed their classmates’ work, instruct them about
publishing online. Direct them to page 74 for the instructions.
Appeal to emotion is a non-logical argument employed by appealing to one’s emotion when that
emotion is not related to the issue. Appeal to emotion can take on various forms such as appeal
to pity, appeal to anger, appeal to pride (also called apple polishing), and appeal to fear.
Because it appeals to emotion that is not related to the issue, it is not considered a valid argu-
ment. If, however, the emotion is related to the issue, then it is not considered appeal to emotion
but is a valid argument, then it is called pseudo-reasoning (false reasoning).
The following are examples of appeal to emotion:
Appeal to anger: A lieutenant in a banana republic says to a reporter, “how dare you
accuse the military of committing human rights violations! Many military men sacrificed
their lives protecting this country from aggressive invaders!”
(The fact that many men in uniform sacrificed their lives doesn’t mean any military should
be absolved from guilt of human rights abuses.)
Not an appeal to anger: A commentator says, “I am angry about the false information
being spread about our military committing human rights abuses.” (The anger is related
to the issue.)
75
***
Appeal to anger: A lieutenant in a banana republic says to a reporter, “how dare you
accuse the military of committing human rights violations! Many military men sacrificed
their lives protecting this country from aggressive invaders!”
(The fact that many men in uniform sacrificed their lives doesn’t mean any military should
be absolved from guilt of human rights abuses.)
Not an appeal to anger: A commentator says, “I am angry about the false information
being spread about our military committing human rights abuses.” (The anger is related
to the issue.)
***
Appeal to pride (apple polishing): A writer says, “I know that some of my readers will
agree with my arguments because they are very smart people.”
Not appeal to pride: A teacher says to a student, “you deserve to be valedictorian because
you are the best in every subject.”
(The praise is related to the issue.)
***
Appeal to fear: A writer says, “The reader will accept my arguments only if he is smart.”
(The reader is forced to accept the arguments for fear of not being considered smart.)
Not appeal to fear: A writer says, “we must not cut anymore trees because that would
lead to disastrous flooding.” (The fear is related to the issue.)
***
Appeal to emotion is a poor way of arguing a point. A good persuasive writer focuses on
the logical arguments in supporting his or her stand.
For Intermediate
Adding a different category of benefits to the set of arguments
Say to the group the following:
Your essay mentioned arguments in support of your position. You need to add another cat-
egory of benefits in order to solidify your support of your position. Consider your benefits (your
arguments in favor of taking up an activity). If you have not done so, categorize your arguments
such as biological, social, physical, and intellectual benefits. You are likely to see one category of
benefits you have not written in your essay. You must then write another set of arguments under
that category. If you cannot think of another category, let your classmate read your arguments
and suggest a category to you.
Allow the students to think about their arguments. Let them write another set of benefits (ar-
guments) under a different category.
76
For Beginners
Making sure the arguments support the author’s position
Say to the group that they need to make sure that the arguments they wrote logically support
the position they have taken about the issue. At this point, tell them that you would like them to
find a partner and process the arguments they gave with their partner. Have them ask whether or
not their arguments really support their position and in what way.
Go around the group and take note of a pair who is having problems in processing the argu-
ments. Help that pair by personally processing their arguments.
77
Responding to the text, page 77
After the students finish reading the text, discuss the comprehension questions and the critical
thinking questions.
Activity
Have the class work in pairs to analyze the claims and arguments given by the author in insisting
that Santa Claus exists. Tell them to use the chart on page 77. Go around the class and make
sure everyone is doing their analysis by writing on the chart.
Activity
Say: The activity on page 80 of the textbook requires you to complete the analysis by answering
the question why? If you disagree with the claim, answer the question why not? Write your answers
on the lines.
78
countering any possible significant counter arguments. Finally, have them end their editorial column
by restating their stand, and if appropriate, a call to action.
Go around the class. Pay attention to individual students who need help in writing their first
draft. If they are at a loss as to what to write next, refer them to the table they used in organizing an
editorial column.
Editing, page 81
Editing for ideas and supporting details
After the students have completed their draft, ask them the next step they need to do. Say that for
this part of the lesson, they will edit for ideas and supporting details.
Say: Your writing will become more interesting and convincing if you use well-focused ideas and
substantial supporting information. Well-focused ideas are exact and specific than general words.
They are backed up with adequate support such as illustrations, facts, and other pertinent informa-
tion. The rubric on page 81 will help determine the strengths and weaknesses of thier arguments.
Instruct the class to give their paper to one of their classmates and let him or her rate their draft
based on the rubric.
Revising
Revising for ideas and supporting details
After the students have edited and returned their classmate’s work, say: Now that your classmate has
identified the weak ideas and supporting details in your paper, you can think of better alternatives
to revise those ideas which are too general or too specific.
Discuss the following:
1. Revise a topic sentence or claim that may be too broad that it does not really present the main
idea of the paragraph. Or, it may also be too narrow that it does not thoroughly cover the sup-
porting information used in the paragraph
2. Revise inadequate or improbable or unlikely paragraphs by adding specific examples, details,
facts, or reasons that support the claim or topic sentence.
3. Remove supporting information that is unimportant or does not relate directly to the topic sentence
or claim.
Publishing online
After the students have revised their work and assessed their classmates’ work, instruct them about
publishing online. Say: Publish your editorial column by creating an anthology. An anthology is a
collection of articles or other works. As a class, create an anthology by putting your editorial col-
umns together into an epub document. Post your epub document in your class website. You may
also physically mass reproduce your work and distribute it to other classes.
79
Ask: What does credibility mean?
Discuss the ways of evaluating the credibility of an author. Direct the class to read the text on
pages 82-83.
Activity
Have the students to work in pairs in answering the following questions about the author of the
editorial column “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus?.”
1. Does the author’s training help in any way to know if there is truly a Santa Claus?
2. Will morality play a factor in truly saying whether there is a Santa Claus or not?
3. Will the author stand to gain anything if Virginia decides to believe that there is indeed
a Santa Claus?
4. Do you think there is any person you know who could truly say whether there is truly a
Santa Claus?”
D. End-of-Lesson Assessment
Assess your students’ editorial columns by using the holistic rubric given at the start of this lesson.
Based on the rubric, you can identify who are high, average, and lower achievers.
Perform differentiated instruction for each group.
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
Remediation
Analyzing arguments
Choose a model essay from one of your students. Give copies of the essay to the group, and
then instruct them to work in pairs and analyze the arguments given in the essay. Have them
use the table on page 77 to analyze this essay.
Reinforcement
Distinguishing between fact and opinion
Discuss the following:
In reading a persuasive text such as an editorial column, distinguishing between a fact and an opinion
is a very important skill. This will keep the reader from being unnecessarily swayed by a writer whose
80
writing does not rely mainly on facts but on sheer opinion.
A fact is an idea that is already proven or is obviously true. On the other hand, an opinion is an
unverified idea. It may or may not prove to be true.
When an author makes a statement about the future, it is very likely an opinion because we are not
really sure about the conditions in the future. When an author talks about the past or the present, you
can employ the skills of activating your prior knowledge to help you distinguish between a fact and an
opinion. You can however suspend final judgment about whether something is a fact or an opinion so
you can continue reading the text and make preliminary inferences. This is especially true if the idea
being expressed is very difficult or technical. For example, the idea that cancer is contagious may not
be within your schema to say if it is true or not. You will need to read more technical material in order
to verify this. A good writer, however, will acknowledge when he is giving an opinion particularly if it
is controversial.
Have the group reread the article, ‘Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus’ again. Present them the
table below and have them copy it on a sheet of paper wherein they will write the facts and opinions
they find in the editorial column. Say that their findings will further enlighten them as to whether to
accept the author’s opinion or not.
Go around and check whether students are doing the activity. Help a student who is finding it difficult
to assess whether a statement is a fact or an opinion by recalling the discussion above.
Enrichment
Writing a letter to the editor
Prepare copies of letters to the editor.
Discuss the following to the group:
A letter to the editor is a short letter sent to print and Internet news publications by readers to express
opinions in response to previously published articles. It may contain reference to a published article.
It is then immediately followed by a short statement of the reader’s reaction, particularly the reader’s
arguments to the published article. A letter to the editor may also simply be a way for a reader to report
a situation that needs attention. Sometimes, the newspaper gives rules regarding the letters. One such
rule is how long the letter can be (for example, limiting it to 250 words).
The following are examples of letters to the editor:
81
a. This is in reference to the article, “Labor union expels president” which appeared in the June
11, 2016 edition of your paper where Mr. Ludwig Quimba was mentioned as being among the
signatories of the expulsion document. We wish to inform you that Mr. Ludwig Quimba was
never a member of the labor union. Maybe one of his relatives, most of whom are active in the
union, is the one in question.”
–Mrs. Laudicia Quimba
Bacoor, Cavite
b. Dear Editor: as a faithful reader of the Superman “family” of magazines, I can’t help but notice
that many of your readers are clamoring for Superman and Lois Lane to get married. Well, I
have news for them. They ARE married! But not to each other. Lois married X-Plam in the July
1960 issue of SUPERMAN COMICS. And Superman wed “Jena the Space Girl” in ACTION
COMICS No. 266.
Tony Amarlis, Chicago, Ill.
(You’re quite right – except that neither one of these marriages was ever consummated. –Ed.)
–From content of an image shown in comiccoverage.typepad.com
c. Rosetta St. in our neighborhood of San Miguel remains dimly lit. The lamp posts have not been
fixed since the last typhoon. I hope this changes soon because I am afraid of the possibility that
robbers might soon take advantage of this situation.
–Stephanie Sosa
Coron, Palawan
d. Your article on wearing casual clothing (“Casual clothing increases productivity,” March 27,
2016) was very informative. However, I just want to say that sometimes wearing formal clothing
is still preferable because there may be times when a technician or programmer is called to be
part of a sales call for a particular potential client.
–Josephine Celeste Paredes
Butuan City
Have the students write a letter to the editor of your school paper or a national broadsheet. Tell them
to express their opinion about an article that appeared on a paper. Ask them to mention the actual article
and the date of publication.
E. Reflection
Have the students write in their journals the answer to the following questions:
1. What part of the lesson did I do well?
2. What part of the lesson did I not deliver as well as I wanted to?
3. What particular strategy or approach will I do well to employ in other lessons?
4. What aspect of the lesson must I try to improve?
5. How do I feel about my over-all performance in this lesson?
82
Additional Readings
• Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell’s Patterns for College Writing: A Rhetorical Reader
and Guide 11th Edition emphasizes critical reading including recognizing patterns of develop-
ment. Published by Bedford/St. Martin’s.
• The McGraw-Hill Guide: Writing for College, Writing for Life has a section on critical thinking,
reading, and writing. It gives a very extensive discussion on writing based on the purposes for
writing.
• Elizabeth C. Long’s Resources for Writers (with Readings): Paragraphs and Essays substan-
tially discusses prewriting activities for generating ideas. It also has an extensive discussion
of misplaced parts and other grammar issues. It discusses how to make your writing concise,
clear, correct, and credible.
• Judith Nadell, John Langan, and Linda McMeniman’s The Macmillan Reader Third Edition has
a very comprehensive discussion on argumentation and persuasion by including more extensive
discussions on logical fallacies, objectivity, bias, and common ground. It includes different
selections grouped by themes.
• Prentice Hall’s Grammar and Composition 1 discusses different text types including persuasive
writing. It also extensively discusses punctuation, grammar, and word use.
• John D. Ramage, John C. Bean, and June Johnson’s The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing uses a
rhetorical thinking approach to persuasion as well as in writing other text types. It has a special
extensive section on doing research to support one’s writing. Published by Longman.
LESSON OVERVIEW
This lesson discusses descriptive writing by providing background discussion on two subtypes— definition
essay and descriptive essay. The genre approach is realized in this lesson by exposing the students to the
text and guiding them in understanding the purpose, structure, and audience of descriptive texts. The
process approach is realized by walking the students through the writing process including generating
ideas and using vivid words in order to write a descriptive text type.
LESSON OUTCOMES
After studying this lesson, the senior high school student is able to:
1. identify the context in which a descriptive text type is developed;
2. describe a descriptive text type essay as connected discourse;
3. identify properties of well-written descriptive text types; and
4. apply critical reading as looking for ways of thinking and as reasoning in reading descriptive
text types
5. write a well-written definition essay and descriptive essay
6. demonstrate the 21st century skill of collaboration
83
DIAGNOSTIC TEST
This pretest must be done a session before this lesson so that you may have enough time to check it.
Assess your students by asking them to define a concept. Because this is a pretest, DO NOT give
them any pointers in writing the essay including length of essay, descriptions, or convention.
You can assess your students by using the following holistic rubric:
Instructional Plan
Make sure that the title of the lesson is written in front for the whole class to see.
A. Motivation
Write the following on the board:
a. the ideal friend
b. nationalism
c. peace
d. the ideal boyfriend/girlfriend
e. true happiness
f. leadership
Call on several students to choose any topic shown on the board and give descriptions regarding
what it is or what qualities it should have.
Allow the students to give their ideas freely. Ask them probing questions that may bring out
more of what they think about the topic.
B. Presentation of Content
READ and DISCUSS, pages 84-88
Genre Focus – Definition Essay
Inform the class the text type they will be immersed into this lesson is descriptive text type, under
this is a definition essay.
84
Ask: What is a definition essay? How it is different from the previous essays we studied?
A definition essay describes the essence of something abstract or term such as nationalism,
friendship, or love based on an author’s emotional experiences.
Direct the class to read the characteristics of a definition essay on pages 84-85. Discuss those.
Call on volunteers to explain how these strategies will be used in reading a definition essay.
Discuss the following:
Interpreting is thinking about what a writer is really saying in a text and then using one's schema,
that is, one’s knowledge of the world, to answer the question about what a writer really says in a
text. It involves finding a deeper meaning than what is explicitly stated in the text. Interpreting is
useful in reading all kinds of texts.
Interpretation is the result of how you understand different symbols, items, cues, imagery, and other
devices that a writer uses in the text. You can interpret a text by making sense of all the different
devices that the writer talks about. There is really no absolutely correct interpretation. There is,
however, an interpretation that matches how the author wants his or her text to be interpreted. On
the other hand, many authors actually write their text in such a way as to leave it open to varied
interpretations.
One of the ways you will interpret the sample essay for this lesson is by answering the compre-
hension and critical thinking questions after reading the essay. ”
Discuss further the other active strategies for reading a definition essay.
85
Reading the Text, pages 86-87
Ask the class to read silently the text.
Activity
A. Instruct the students to work in pairs and discuss what nationalism is and what it is not and
what it does and does not. Have them write their answers in the table on page 88.
B. Divide the class into groups of five. Ask each group to create an infographic about Claro M.
Recto’s concept of nationalism by following the steps given on page 88 of the textbook.
86
Organizing a definition essay
Draw the following table on the board or use an electronic presentation.
Concept
Short definition
Description
Examples
What it is not
Analogy
Special or unique
characteristic
Allow time for the students to write. Go around and check if anyone is having difficulties.
87
Applying language skills
Discuss the rules for writing clearly as discussed in page 89 of the textbook.
Editing
Editing for clarity
After the students have written their first draft, ask the students to exchange papers with their class-
mates. Say that they will read their classmate’s work and have them point out any rule violated in
the section Applying Language Skills. They also have to check if there are too many or too few
examples in the essay to illustrate the concept. They also have to check the similarity between the
analogies and the concept. They will also point out whether or not the special characteristics of the
concept are clearly explained.
Direct the class to read the text on page 91.
Revising
Revising for clarity
Say to the class after their classmate has edited their work for clarity, tell them that they may start
revising their work based on their classmate’s comments.
Direct them to guidelines in revising on pages 90-91.
Publishing online
After the students have revised their work and assessed their classmates’ work, instruct them about
publishing online. Say: You may publish your work online. After uploading your essay in your
blog site, post a quote or metaphor in your online profile related to your essay. Turn the post into a
hyperlink that points to the location of your essay. Alternatively, you can upload a photo related to
your essay and use it as the hyperlink. Make sure the photo is yours or you have permission to use it.
88
Differentiated Instruction for Advanced Learners
Denotation and Connotation
Discuss the following:
There are two kinds of definitions to a word. The first is denotation. This is the usual, dictionary
definition of a word. This definition is very neutral, meaning it normally does not have any bias,
subjectivity, or emotion attached to it. The second kind of definition to a word is connotation. It
refers to the associations given to a word. It refers to the mental images a word stirs up in the
mind of a person.
This kind of definition has the following characteristics:
• It has some amount of bias – from little to very much.
• It is subjective, that is, it may differ from culture to culture, group to group, person to person,
and even to the same person at different points in time.
• It can be very emotional. There are different emotions attached to a word by different groups
of people.
• It can be very much related to a person’s experience with a real-world instance of that word.
Take the word school for example. The denotation of the word school is a place where students
study and learn from teachers. However, different groups of people have different mental images to
the word school. For some, the word school brings up images of air-conditioned rooms with many
designs on the wall. For others, the word school brings up images of old, broken down facilities.
The word school also stirs up different emotions. Some have fear and distress when thinking of
school. Others think of fun, socialization, and belongingness when they encounter the word school.
Consider also the word white. In contrast to Filipino brides who would want to wear white
during their wedding, Indian women would never want to wear white – because it is the color of
emptiness and barrenness. Come to think of it, which season in India would have the color white?
The answer is winter and that is the time wherein no food grows; the environment can be very
empty. Indian women would rather wear brown, the color of the soil, where food comes from.
The following is a list of words. You all would probably have similar denotations to the words.
Take some time to write down your connotation—the ideas, associations, emotions, and mental
images you connect with the following words:
(Write the following on the board.)
a. father
b. soldier
c. family
d. mother
e. library
f. province
Note: connotation may be positive to some, negative to those with bad experiences with their
fathers, soldier, family, or mother
89
After some time, ask the students to share their connotations about the words given above.
Note: The students will likely have different associations for the words, especially because of their
experience.
In writing any text, but especially in writing a definition essay, understanding the connotation of
a word is essential. If the writer’s connotation of a word is very different from that of the reader’s
connotation, then miscommunication is very probable.
90
One thought that occurs to me is that men will continue to withdraw from nature in order
to create an environment that will suit them better. By 2014, electroluminescent panels will be
in common use. Ceilings and walls will glow softly, and in a variety of colors that will change
at the touch of a push button.
Windows need be no more than an archaic touch, and even when present will be polarized
to block out the harsh sunlight. The degree of opacity of the glass may even be made to alter
automatically in accordance with the intensity of the light falling upon it.
There is an underground house at the fair that is a sign of the future. If its windows are
not polarized, they can nevertheless alter the "scenery" by changes in lighting. Suburban
houses underground, with easily controlled temperature, free from the vicissitudes of weather,
with air cleaned and light controlled, should be fairly common. At the New York World's Fair
of 2014, General Motors' "Futurama" may well display vistas of underground cities complete
with light- forced vegetable gardens. The surface, G.M. will argue, will be given over to large-
scale agriculture, grazing and parklands, with less space wasted on actual human occupancy.
Gadgetry will continue to relieve mankind of tedious jobs. Kitchen units will be devised
that will prepare "automeals," heating water and converting it to coffee; toasting bread; frying,
poaching, or scrambling eggs; grilling bacon; and so on. Breakfasts will be "ordered" the night
before to be ready by a specified hour the next morning. Complete lunches and dinners, with the
food semi-prepared, will be stored in the freezer until ready for processing. I suspect, though,
that even in 2014 it will still be advisable to have a small corner in the kitchen unit where the
more individual meals can be prepared by hand, especially when company is coming.
Robots will neither be common nor very good in 2014, but they will be in existence. The
I.B.M. exhibit at the present fair has no robots but it is dedicated to computers, which are
shown in all their amazing complexity, notably in the task of translating Russian into English.
If machines are that smart today, what may not be in the works 50 years hence? It will be such
computers, much miniaturized, that will serve as the "brains" of robots. In fact, the I.B.M. build-
ing at the 2014 World's Fair may have, as one of its prime exhibits, a robot housemaid—large,
clumsy, slow- moving but capable of general picking-up, arranging, cleaning and manipulation
of various appliances. It will undoubtedly amuse the fairgoers to scatter debris over the floor in
order to see the robot lumberingly remove it and classify it into "throw away" and "set aside."
(Robots for gardening work will also have made their appearance.)
General Electric at the 2014 World's Fair will be showing 3-D movies of its "Robot of the
Future," neat and streamlined, its cleaning appliances built in and performing all tasks briskly.
(There will be a three-hour wait in line to see the film, for some things never change.)
The appliances of 2014 will have no electric cords, of course, for they will be powered by
long-lived batteries running on radioisotopes. The isotopes will not be expensive for they will
be by-products of the fission-power plants which, by 2014, will be supplying well over half the
power needs of humanity. But once the isotope batteries are used up they will be disposed of
only through authorized agents of the manufacturer.
91
And experimental fusion-power plant or two will already exist in 2014. (Even today, a
small but genuine fusion explosion is demonstrated at frequent intervals in the G.E. exhibit at
the 1964 fair.) Large solar-power stations will also be in operation in a number of desert and
semi-desert areas—Arizona, the Negev, Kazakhstan. In the more crowded, but cloudy and
smoggy areas, solar power will be less practical. An exhibit at the 2014 fair will show models
of power stations in space, collecting sunlight by means of huge parabolic focusing devices
and radiating the energy thus collected down to earth.
The world of 50 years hence will have shrunk further. At the 1964 fair, the G.M. ex-
hibit depicts, among other things, "road-building factories" in the tropics and, closer to home,
crowded highways along which long buses move on special central lanes. There is every
likelihood that highways at least in the more advanced sections of the world will have passed
their peak in 2014; there will be increasing emphasis on transportation that makes the least
possible contact with the surface. There will be aircraft, of course, but even ground travel will
increasingly take to the air*a foot or two off the ground. Visitors to the 1964 fair can travel
there in an "aquafoil," which lifts itself on four stilts and skims over the water with a minimum
of friction. This is surely a stop-gap. By 2014 the four stilts will have been replaced by four jets
of compressed air so that the vehicle will make no contact with either liquid or solid surfaces.
Jets of compressed air will also lift land vehicles off the highways, which, among other
things, will minimize paving problems. Smooth earth or level lawns will do as well as pave-
ments. Bridges will also be of less importance, since cars will be capable of crossing water
on their jets, though local ordinances will discourage the practice.
Much effort will be put into the designing of vehicles with "robot-brains" —vehicles that
can be set for particular destinations and that will then proceed there without interference by
the slow reflexes of a human driver. I suspect one of the major attractions of the 2014 fair will
be rides on small roboticized cars which will maneuver in crowds at the two-foot level, neatly
and automatically avoiding each other.
For short-range travel, moving sidewalks (with benches on either side, standing room in
the center) will be making their appearance in downtown sections. They will be raised above
the traffic. Traffic will continue (on several levels in some places) only because all parking will
be off-street and because at least 80 percent of truck deliveries will be to certain fixed centers
at the city's rim. Compressed air tubes will carry goods and materials over local stretches, and
the switching devices that will place specific shipments in specific destinations will be one of
the city's marvels.
Communications will become sight-sound and you will see as well as hear the person
you telephone. The screen can be used not only to see the people you call but also for stud-
ying documents and photographs and reading passages from books. Synchronous satellites,
hovering in space will make it possible for you to direct-dial any spot on earth, including the
weather stations in Antarctica (shown in chill splendor as part of the '64 General Motors exhibit).
92
For that matter, you will be able to reach someone at the moon colonies, concerning which
General Motors puts on a display of impressive vehicles (in model form) with large soft tires
intended to negotiate the uneven terrain that may exist on our natural satellite.
Any number of simultaneous conversations between earth and moon can be handled
by modulated laser beams, which are easy to manipulate in space. On earth, however, laser
beams will have to be led through plastic pipes, to avoid material and atmospheric interference.
Engineers will still be playing with that problem in 2014.
Conversations with the moon will be a trifle uncomfortable, but the way, in that 2.5 sec-
onds must elapse between statement and answer (it takes light that long to make the round
trip). Similar conversations with Mars will experience a 3.5-minute delay even when Mars is
at its closest. However, by 2014, only unmanned ships will have landed on Mars, though a
manned expedition will be in the works and in the 2014 Futurama will show a model of an
elaborate Martian colony.
As for television, wall screens will have replaced the ordinary set; but transparent cubes
will be making their appearance in which three-dimensional viewing will be possible. In fact,
one popular exhibit at the 2014 World's Fair will be such a 3-D TV, built life-size, in which ballet
performances will be seen. The cube will slowly revolve for viewing from all angles. One can
go on indefinitely in this happy extrapolation, but all is not rosy.
As I stood in line waiting to get into the General Electric exhibit at the 1964 fair, I found
myself staring at Equitable Life's grim sign blinking out the population of the United States,
with the number (over 191,000,000) increasing by 1 every 11 seconds. During the interval
which I spent inside the G.E. pavilion, the American population had increased by nearly 300
and the world's population by 6,000.
In 2014, there is every likelihood that the world population will be 6,500,000,000 and the
population of the United States will be 350,000,000. Boston-to-Washington, the most crowded
area of its size on Earth, will have become a single city with a population of over 40,000,000.
Population pressure will force increasing penetration of desert and polar areas. Most
surprising and, in some ways, heartening, 2014 will see a good beginning made in the colo-
nization of the continental shelves. Underwater housing will have its attractions to those who
like water sports, and will undoubtedly encourage the more efficient exploitation of ocean
resources, both food and mineral. General Motors shows, in its 1964 exhibit, the model of
an underwater hotel of what might be called mouth-watering luxury. The 2014 World's Fair
will have exhibits showing cities in the deep sea with bathyscaphe liners carrying men and
supplies across and into the abyss.
Ordinary agriculture will keep up with great difficulty and there will be "farms" turning to
the more efficient microorganisms. Processed yeast and algae products will be available in a
variety of flavors. The 2014 fair will feature an Algae Bar at which "mock-turkey" and "pseu-
dosteak" will be served. It won't be bad at all (if you can dig up those premium prices), but
there will be considerable psychological resistance to such an innovation.
93
Although technology will still keep up with population through 2014, it will be only through a
supreme effort and with but partial success. Not all the world's population will enjoy the gadgety
world of the future to the full. A larger portion than today will be deprived and although they
may be better off, materially, than today, they will be further behind when compared with the
advanced portions of the world. They will have moved backward, relatively.
Nor can technology continue to match population growth if that remains unchecked. Con-
sider Manhattan of 1964, which has a population density of 80,000 per square mile at night
and of over 100,000 per square mile during the working day. If the whole earth, including the
Sahara, the Himalayan Mountain peaks, Greenland, Antarctica and every square mile of the
ocean bottom, to the deepest abyss, were as packed as Manhattan at noon, surely you would
agree that no way to support such a population (let alone make it comfortable) was conceivable.
In fact, support would fail long before the World-Manhattan was reached.
Well, the earth's population is now about 3,000,000,000 and is doubling every 40 years. If
this rate of doubling goes unchecked, then a World-Manhattan is coming in just 500 years. All
earth will be a single choked Manhattan by A.D. 2450 and society will collapse long before that!
There are only two general ways of preventing this: (1) raise the death rate; (2) lower the
birth rate. Undoubtedly, the world of A.D. 2014 will have agreed on the latter method. Indeed,
the increasing use of mechanical devices to replace failing hearts and kidneys, and repair
stiffening arteries and breaking nerves will have cut the death rate still further and have lifted
the life expectancy in some parts of the world to age 85.
There will, therefore, be a worldwide propaganda drive in favor of birth control by rational
and humane methods and, by 2014, it will undoubtedly have taken serious effect. The rate of
increase of population will have slackened*but, I suspect, not sufficiently.
One of the more serious exhibits at the 2014 World's Fair, accordingly, will be a series of
lectures, movies and documentary material at the World Population Control Center (adults
only; special showings for teenagers).
The situation will have been made the more serious by the advances of automation. The
world of A.D. 2014 will have few routine jobs that cannot be done better by some machine
than by any human being. Mankind will therefore have become largely a race of machine
tenders. Schools will have to be oriented in this direction. Part of the General Electric exhibit
today consists of a school of the future in which such present realities as closed-circuit TV and
programmed tapes aid the teaching process. It is not only the techniques of teaching that will
advance, however, but also the subject matter that will change. All the high-school students will
be taught the fundamentals of computer technology will become proficient in binary arithmetic
and will be trained to perfection in the use of the computer languages that will have developed
out of those like the contemporary "Fortran" (from "formula translation").
Even so, mankind will suffer badly from the disease of boredom, a disease spreading more
widely each year and growing in intensity. This will have serious mental, emotional and socio-
logical consequences, and I dare say that psychiatry will be far and away the most important
94
important medical specialty in 2014. The lucky few who can be involved in creative work of
any sort will be the true elite of mankind, for they alone will do more than serve a machine.
Indeed, the most somber speculation I can make about A.D. 2014 is that in a society of
enforced leisure, the most glorious single word in the vocabulary will have become work!
Write your analysis of his predictions by comparing them to what really is in existence since 2014.
Copy and use the table below. (Write the following on the board.)
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
95
A metaphor does not use comparison words but instead equates the topic and the image.
Check your definition essay and examine if the comparisons you used are able to express the
characteristics of the word you are defining.
Lead up questions
After the class has finished reading the background and author profile, call on some students to share
their thoughts on the questions on page 92.
Discuss the lead up questions.
Vocabulary preview
Direct the class to the list of words on page 92. Call on several volunteers to read the words and
definitions and use those words in sentences.
Discuss the vocabulary words in the vocabulary preview.
96
Activity
Guess the Bird Game
Prepare several pictures of birds in their habitat or in action. You may also use an electronic pres-
entation. For this activity the class will have a guessing game. You will ask for a pair of students.
One of them will have his or her back turned toward the picture of the bird you will show. The other
student will describe the bird in the picture.
Activity
Pinoy Henyo: Birds
Prepare several pictures of birds in their habitat or in action. Include the name of the bird in the
picture. You may also use an electronic presentation. Inform the class that they will play Pinoy
Henyo: Birds. Ask for volunteers of 3-4 pairs of students, one serving as the guesser who will ask
questions Pinoy Henyo-style and the other will answer. Show the name of a bird to the class ex-
cept for the guesser. Give each pair two minutes to guess the name of the bird Pinoy Henyo-style.
97
Next, show the following:
Shape
Anchors a-weigh is shaped like a rowboat thick in the middle and then getting narrow as it goes
to the front or back. It has many seats for passengers. It is securely hanged on a point using
giant suspenders.
Color
Anchors a-weigh has different bright colors to attract attention. Sometimes it is painted to look
like a wooden boat from previous centuries.
Size
It is very big. It can accommodate around 50 to 100 passengers. It can even be seen from a
distance.
Other appearances
It looks like a giant pendulum because it sways on its point from front to back.
Sound it makes
The carnival operator sometimes plays loud music while the ride goes on. Sometimes it has no
sound except for the loud screaming of the passengers who sound absolutely terrified.
What it feels like
Riding on anchors a-weigh feels like you are freely falling. You can feel your stomach twist and
turn as well as other feelings that can make you dizzy. All of that makes for a thrilling ride.
What it tastes like
Sometimes the taste you have in your throat is bitter as the contents of your stomach well up.
Activity
Writing Relative Clauses
Direct the class to the activity on page 98.
98
After all their paragraphs are written, instruct the students to write a sentence that summarizes
their whole essay, that is, their thesis sentence. Their thesis sentence can simply enumerate the dif-
ferent categories they came up with. For example, if they had decided to write about exotic animals
in their locality, they may write a thesis sentence such as—
The exotic animals found in our province are bearcats, mouse deer, and spiny anteaters.
Discuss the example. Have the students notice the phrase exotic animals in the sentence. This
refers to the basis for classification. Circle these two words, and then the words bearcats, mouse
deer, and spiny anteaters. Say that those refer to the different categories of exotic animals found in
the writer’s province.
Go around the class. Pay attention to individual students who need help in writing their first
draft. If they are at a loss as to what to write next, refer them to the graphic organizers they made
in organizing their descriptive essay.
Editing
Editing for precision
After the class have written their drafts, say that this time they will edit for precision.
Discuss the following:
Your writing will become more vivid and interesting if you use precise words. Precise words
are exact and specific words. They provide more picturesque visual, auditory, or other sensory char-
acteristics. For example, the word thing is a very ambiguous and unclear word. You can make your
writing clearer if you replace it with a word that gives more detail about what the thing really is.
Direct the class to the table on pages 98-99. Call on volunteers to read each general word and
then the equivalent precise words. You may also ask them to provide more precise words to the
given general words.
Have the students ask a classmate to edit their draft for precise words. Say that they will circle
the words they think are better replaced by a more descriptive word or expression.
Revising
Revising for consistency of precision
Have the students read the edits on their drafts. Have them think of better replacements for the cir-
cled words. In order for them to do this, ask them to try once again to visualize the objects they are
describing. Say: Visualize them doing something or in motion instead of just standing still.
Ask the students to revise their essay for precision and have them ask their peers for the assessment.
99
Assessing your peers
After the students are finished with their revision, instruct them to help their classmates verify if they
have written good, precise descriptions by drawing the objects they have described in their essay.
Tell them to bring out several pieces of paper on which they can draw the objects. They may use
a pencil, eraser, and crayons. Tell them to draw each object on one paper based on what they read
and color them using the crayons based on how they were described. Have them also symbolize or
draw the environment or outside elements that the objects interact with.
After they have completed their drawings, have them show to the writer of the essay from where
they based their drawings. The owner may give comments as to how accurate the drawings are. Say
that they need to discuss with the owners any characteristics they were unable to describe very well
or they were unable to understand.
Publishing online
After the students have revised their work and assessed their classmates’ work, instruct them about
publishing online.
100
Generalization
Help the students develop an overall understanding of the lesson by asking them the following questions.
Let them answer individually and make comments as to their understanding of the lesson.
Ask them the following questions:
1. What are the characteristics of a descriptive essay?
2. What reading strategies can be used with descriptive essays?
3. What is a definition essay?
4. What are the characteristics of a definition essay?
5. Why is collaboration important?
End-of-Lesson Assessment
Assess your students’ editorial column by using the holistic rubric given at the start of this lesson. Based
on the rubric, you can identify who are advanced, intermediate, and beginners.
Perform differentiated instruction for each group.
101
II. Main idea 2
A. Detail 1
B. Detail 2
C. Detail 3
III. Main idea 3
A. Detail 1
a. Sub detail 1
b. Sub detail 2
c. Sub detail 3
B. Detail 2
C. Detail 3
Submit your work individually.
What could he have meant by this passage? Activate your prior knowledge about Philippine history
and write on a half sheet of paper your interpretation of this passage.
E. Reflection
Have the students write in their journals the answer to the following questions:
1. What part of the lesson did I do well?
2. What part of the lesson did I not deliver as well as I wanted to?
3. What particular strategy or approach will I do well to employ in other lessons?
4. What aspect of the lesson must I try to improve?
5. How do I feel about my over-all performance in this lesson?
102
Additional Readings
• Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell’s Patterns for College Writing: A Rhetorical Reader
and Guide 11th Edition emphasizes critical reading including description and other patterns of
development. It discusses planning, structuring, revising, and editing a descriptive essay. It uses a
similar approach in discussing other patterns of development. Published by Bedford/St. Martin’s.
• Elizabeth C. Long’s Resources for Writers (with readings): Paragraphs and Essays substantially
discusses prewriting activities for generating ideas. It also has an extensive discussion of gram-
mar and writing conventions. It discusses how to make your writing concise, clear, correct, and
credible.
• The McGraw-Hill Guide: Writing for College, Writing for Life has a section on critical thinking,
reading, and writing. It gives a very extensive discussion on writing based on the purposes for
writing.
• Prentice Hall’s Grammar and Composition 1 discusses different patterns of development including
descriptive writing. It also has a substantial discussion on punctuation, grammar, and word use.
103
UNIT ASSESSMENT
Match the items in part A with the correct items in part B by writing the corresponding letter on the line
for each item.
A.
______1. punctuation, capitalization, and spelling
______2. a graphic tool used for comparing and contrasting
______3. can be done by reading the first sentences of each paragraph
______4. a text that describes the essence of an abstract term
______5. a good way of writing a conclusion
______6. a text that gives detailed information and explanation
______7. words that have become tiring to listen to
______8. opinion article by only one writer
______9. examples are personal essay and memoir
______10. words that seem to modify words in different places
______11. provides more information about a noun using fewer words than two sentences
______12. a text that uses precise language and sensory expressions to create vivid images
______13. could not be done by machines
______14. a text that uses arguments
______15. an active strategy in reading persuasive texts
______16. examples are I, me, us
______17. the first step in writing any text
______18. a way of organizing a comparison-and-contrast essay
______19. a statement of belief or aims that guide a person or entity
______20. an active strategy in reading a descriptive essay
B.
A. persuasive B. deadwood C. visualizing
D. previewing E. prewriting F. 21st century skills
G. relative clauses H. descriptive I. squintingmodifiers
J. editorial column K. asking questions L. definition
M. editorial N. credo O. restating the thesis
P. narrative Q. first person pronouns R. convention
S. Venn diagram T. expository U. point-by-point
V. dangling modifiers
104
Answers:
1. R
2. S
3. D
4. L
5. O
6. T
7. B
8. J
9. P
10. I
11. G
12. H
13. F
14. A
15. K
16. Q
17. E
18. U
19. N
20. C
105
Unit 3 Purposeful Reading and Writing in the Discipline
UNIT OVERVIEW
This unit discusses how to write texts with very specific purposes, particularly responding to literature,
crafting a business letter, producing a resume and cover letter, and writing a memo and electronic mail.
Emphasis is given on how the purpose affects the format or style. Specific guidelines are given for the
language used and the decorum to be followed in writing each text type.
CONTENT STANDARD
The learners understand the requirements of composing academic writing and professional correspondence.
PERFORMANCE STANDARD
The learners produce each type of academic writing and professional correspondence following the
properties of well-written texts and process approach to writing.
LESSON OVERVIEW
In this lesson, the short story “The Masque of the Red Death” as focus text and a sample response is
provided. Students are guided in understanding the purpose, structure, and audience of the response text.
They are then taught to know how to respond to the text particularly by focusing on the symbolism and
other forms used in the focus text. The writing process is followed and tailored to specifically enable
students to write a response essay.
Learning Competencies
After studying this lesson, the senior high school student is able to:
1. use strategies before, during, and after reading a literature work to aid in the construction and
enhancement of meaning
2. respond in discussions and in writing, using personal, literal, interpretative, and evaluative
stances to works of fiction
3. identify and explain the function of essential short story elements in the writer’s craft (i.e.
character, setting, conflict, plot, climax, resolution, theme, tone, point of view)
DIAGNOSTIC TEST
This pretest must be done a session before this lesson so that you may have enough time to check it.
Direct the students to read the short story “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe.
Assess the students by asking them to write a reaction paper to the short story. Because this is a
pretest, DO NOT give them any pointers in writing the essay including length of essay, descriptions,
or convention.
106
You can assess your students by using the following holistic rubric:
Instructional Plan
Make sure that the title of the lesson is written in front for the whole class to see.
A. Motivation
Show a short video about the Black Plague that engulfed Europe and the rest of the world. You may
show the video using this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7OWLohZ_fs You may also
obtain other videos of the Black Plague based on your preference.
B. Presentation of Content
READ and DISCUSS, pages 102-113
Genre focus – Short Story
In this lesson, you will discuss writing a response to literature. Responses to literature analyze and
interpret an author's work. They extend beyond literary analysis to evaluate and discuss how and
why the text is effective or not.
Ask: What is a short story? What are its characteristics? What is the structure of a short story’s
plot?
Discuss the characteristics of a short story as stated on pages 102-103.
107
Lead up Questions
Call on some volunteers to answer the questions on page 103.
Vocabulary Preview
Discuss the vocabulary words in the vocabulary preview. Call on several students to use the words
in sentences.
108
The seven chambers in the Prince’s palace represent the different stages of life, as indicated
in their colors and locations. The blue chamber represents birth, and this hue suggests the
uncertainties and the unknown, as it is associated with bodies of water, an entity that is not as
predictable as other objects. The second chamber is colored purple. This combination of blue and
red pigments, which connote birth and intensity combined, suggests the beginnings of growth.
Furthermore, the third room, green, indicates youth, as it is the color of spring; and the orange
chamber signifies the autumn of life, or adulthood. White, the next room’s color, suggests old
age as it is associated with the aging of man’s physical features. The sixth room is soaked with
violet, a pigment from purple and grey, which represents darkness and degeneration through its
shadowy color. The seventh and last chamber has “black velvet tapestries” and “deep blood color”
for its panes (p. 1, paragraph 4). This ghastly decoration greatly signifies death, as what can be
inferred from the colors. The progression of these chambers from east to west, the same way
that the sun rises and sets, is an allegorical representation of man’s journey from birth to death.
Finally, the Red Death is another strong allegory to how no one is ever immune from death.
Similar to his lighthearted, noble friends, Prince Prospero is society’s ideal figure of a wealthy
and secured man who is protected from the threats of death. For some time, he is able to retire
“to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys” (paragraph 1), safe from the looming
plague throughout his kingdom. Despite all his wealth and security measures, however, Death
still reaches him after some time, like a “thief in the night” (paragraph 14). The way that the Red
Death conquers the entire kingdom of Prince Prospero (paragraph 14) represents the way that
death would ultimately and inevitably conquer all humanity through the course of time.
The notion of humanity’s inevitable journey towards death is truly a theme constantly explored
by various literary authors throughout the centuries. In Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Mask of the Red
Death,” this similar theme is highlighted through the selection’s symbolisms of the chambers, the
clock, and the Red Death. Through this narration, it is seen that man may hide from and attempt
to outsmart death, but as it prevails in the story, so death also prevails in life’s real context.
Response essay
by Rebekah Mambiar
Philippine Normal University
Activity
Have the students work in groups of 4 to 5. Tell them to make a visual aid or graphic organizer that
lists the story’s major events, main characters, themes, symbols, setting, conflict, and resolution.
They can use the story map on page 109 or their own organizer to include other literary features.
Allow time for the students to fill out the graphic organizer. Go around and check if anyone is having
difficulties in filling out the graphic organizer and clarify any issues they have about filling it out.
Activity
Say that an allegory is a story that uses symbols to teach a particular lesson. Symbols can be
characters, objects, or events that represent something else.
Have the class complete the chart on page 109. Tell them to explain what they think each
symbol in “The Masque of the Red Death” represents and how it helps teach the lesson of the story.
109
Formative Assessment During the Lesson
Collect the chart your class filled out in the second activity. Assess the chart of your class based on
the holistic rubric below.
Level Quality of work
Advanced Interpretation of symbols shows substantial thinking in terms of met-
aphors and other literary devices beyond the literal point of view.
Interpretation is very creative and meaningful.
Intermediate Interpretation of symbols shows some amount of nonliteral thinking.
Interpretation shows some creativity and meaning. Some ideas are
borrowed from the sample essay.
Beginning Interpretation barely goes beyond the literal. Student has difficulty in
coming up with creative interpretations.
Based on the rubric, you can identify who are advanced, intermediate, and beginners. Perform
differentiated instruction for each group.
For Advanced
Modernizing “The Masque of the Red Death”
Instruct the group to brainstorm among themselves to modernize the story of “The Masque
of the Red Death.” Have the group choose who will take note. Have them use the following
guide questions:
1. If Prince Prospero lived in the 21st century, what would he be? Describe the 21st
century Prince Prospero.
2. What kind of plague would be devastating in the 21st century?
3. Who would Prince Prospero’s friends be?
4. Where would Prince Prospero and his friends retreat to so that they may avoid the
plague?
5. What kinds of activities would Prince Prospero and his party engage in so they may
keep their minds from the plague?
6. Who or what would the masque of the red death be in the 21st century?
7. How would the masque of the red death kill Prince Prospero?
Present your work to the class after you finish.
For Intermediate
Coming up with alternative endings to the story
Instruct the group to brainstorm to come up with alternative endings to the story such that the
story would become.
1. comedic
2. action
3. melodrama
4. tragic (but still has a different ending)
5. romance (can still be tragic)
Have the group present to the class their output.
110
For Beginners
Finding more symbols in a story
The symbols enumerated in the second activity in this lesson may not be the only elements a
reader may pay attention to. Different readers from different background may focus on various
symbols that other readers may not focus on.
Tell the group to construct a similar chart as in the second activity with the headers symbol,
what it represents, and the lesson/s it teaches.
However, the above way of writing made an article too formal as to weaken communication.
Nowadays, the use of the first person singular (or first person plural in the case of many au-
thors) is allowed when referring to actions that only the author can do such as making assertions,
expressing opinion, stating the author’s thesis sentence, or giving the purpose for writing. Thus, the
following are now acceptable:
I believe that…
I think…
I want to show that writing can be easy to learn given the right motivation.
In this paper, I will argue that writing is very beneficial for all professions.
111
For actions that research assistants or other helpers can do, the passive is still used. For example,
Twenty-five milliliters of powder was poured into a beaker.
Samples were checked for errors.
When you write your essay, think of actions that only you can do. You may use the first person
singular pronoun to express them.
112
Organization The response essay has The response essay The response essay
a good thesis statement; has a good thesis does not have a good
its paragraphs contain sentence but its thesis sentence and its
good arguments paragraphs have little paragraphs have little
supported with enough meaningful content or meaningful content.
details. vice versa.
Allow the students time in writing their first draft. Go around the class and pay attention to individual
students who need help in writing their first draft.
Editing
Editing for unity
After the students have written their first draft, have them now edit their classmate’s work. They
will edit for unity. Unity means all the sentences in a paragraph are connected to the main idea of the
paragraph. For example, if a paragraph’s main idea is about the advantages of studying in college,
then all the sentences in that paragraph should be about the advantages of studying in college. Any
sentence about the disadvantages of studying in college, the skills needed to study in college, or
any other idea not related to the advantages of studying in college should not be in that paragraph.
Instruct the class to show their work to their seatmates to check the paragraphs in the essay for
any sentence that is not related to the main idea of that paragraph.
Go around and clarify any issue regarding paragraph unity.
Revising
After everyone is done in editing for unity, have the students start revising their work based on their
classmate’s comments.
Publishing online
Instruct the class to publish their essays online. You may also encourage them to find any website
discussing Edgar Allan Poe’s works and ask the editorial staff if they could publish their work as
part of their student essays.
Generalization
Help the students develop an overall understanding of the lesson by asking them the following
questions. Let them answer individually and make comments as to their understanding of the lesson.
1. How do we read a piece of literature?
2. What should a response to literature essay contain?
3. What particular elements should be given attention in responding to an essay and what are their
functions?
113
End-of-Lesson Test
Assess your students’ response essays to “The Masque of the Red Death” by using the holistic rubric
given at the start of this lesson. Based on the rubric, you can identify who are advanced, intermediate,
and beginners. Perform differentiated instruction for each group.
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
Remediation
Giving more descriptions about the elements in the story
Inform the group that they can improve their essay by providing fuller descriptions of the elements in
the story. Let them ask their seatmates to look for elements in their response essay and see if there are
any that seems weak or lacks discussion or supporting evidence. When they get back their essay with
comments from their classmates, direct the students to strengthen their description of the elements by
describing their significance to the overall story. Have them highlight any significant characteristic of
an element and how that characteristic spices up the story.
Reinforcement
Giving more evidence
Say to the group: Your arguments regarding the literature text can be made more credible if you provide
more references to particular pieces of text in the story. Ask your seatmate to look for arguments in your
response essay and see if there are any that seems weak or lacks supporting evidence. When you get
back your essay with comments from your classmate, strengthen your weak arguments by getting more
example pieces of text from the story and giving comments about them.
Enrichment
Giving more examples of Edgar Allan Poe’s other works
Tell the group to secure copies of “The Raven,” “The Tell-tale Heart,” or any other work of Edgar Allan
Poe. Have them research the background for each of the stories. Let the group read two or three more
of these stories by Edgar Allan Poe to appreciate his style, approach, and story elements.
Reflection
Have the students write in their journals the answer to the following questions:
1. What part of the lesson did I do well?
2. What part of the lesson did I not deliver as well as I wanted to?
3. What particular strategy or approach will I do well to employ in other lessons?
4. What aspect of the lesson must I try to improve?
5. How do I feel about my overall performance in this lesson?
Additional Readings
• Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell’s Patterns for College writing: A rhetorical
Reader and Guide 11th Edition emphasizes critical reading including recognizing patterns
of development. Published by Bedford/St. Martin’s.
114
• The McGraw-Hill Guide: Writing for College, Writing for life has a section on critical
thinking, reading, and writing. It gives a very extensive discussion on writing based on the
purposes for writing.
• Brenda Owens’ Mirrors & Windows: Connecting with Literature has a special section that
deals with how to respond to a short story. It includes specialized prewriting activities,
producing a well-supported thesis sentence, and student model essays. Published by EMC
Publishing.
• Holt, Rinehart, and Winston’s Elements of Literature, Fifth Course gives special attention
to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, particularly his symbolism, and a special essay written by
Poe himself on writing “The Raven.” The book gives considerable discussion on American
literature.
• McDougal Littell’s Literature has a writing workshop on analyzing a story. It also has an
extensive chapter on dealing with mood, tone, and style and another on plot, conflict, and
setting for fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, and media text types.
• Prentice Hall’s Writing Coach devotes an entire chapter to response to literature. It gives
a special discussion on reviewing a short story. It involves the entire writing process for
producing a response to literature and has both a mentor text and a student essay.
• Prentice Hall’s Writers’ Solution also devotes an entire chapter to response to literature. It
discusses the relevance of response to literature to a person’s life. It also discusses different
types of responses to literature. It has a lot of model essays and provides a guided lesson
for writing your own response to literature.
LESSON OVERVIEW
This lesson begins by explaining the purpose, characteristics, and parts of a business letter. Two business
letter styles are highlighted—block and modified block. The writing process is then tailored to specifically
enable students to write a business letter.
Learning Competencies
After studying this lesson, the senior high school student is able to:
1. use standard business writing standard formats
2. analyze intended audience and adapt writing to its needs
3. appreciate the importance of producing work that satisfies professional or workplace standards
DIAGNOSTIC TEST
This pretest must be done a session before this lesson so that you may have enough time to check it.
Assess your students by asking them to write a business letter. Because this is a pretest, DO NOT
give them any pointers in writing the letter including length of letter, descriptions, or convention.
115
You can assess your students by using the following holistic rubric:
Instructional Plan
Make sure that the title of the lesson is written in front for the whole class to see.
A. Motivation
The following are suggested ways of motivating students.
Read to the class the following funny business letters or project them on a screen:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/4374622/More-funny-complaint-letters.html
You can also try these funny, spectacular complaint letters:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/ailbhemalone/14-spectacular-complaint-letters#.dsAW86ZM7z
You can also try searching the internet for funny business, complaint, or recommendation
letters in order to lighten up your lesson.
B. Presentation of Content
READ and DISCUSS
Genre Focus – Business Letter
Ask: What types of letters have you written during your junior high school years? Ask several students
to answer. Have you written a business letter? Say that proficiency in writing business letters is now
a must. Ask: Why are business letters necessary? When do you write a business letter? Cite some
situations when business letters are written, e.g. to promote a product, to respond to a customer’s
query, to keep a permanent record, to secure confidentiality, etc.
Ask: How is a business letter different from the other types of letters or writings? Call several
students to differentiate a business letter from other types of writings. Ask them to juxtapose the
structure, tone, language used, formality, etc. of the letters.
Discuss the characteristics of a business letter such as purposeful, persuasive, economical, and
audience oriented. Direct the students to read the text on page 114.
A business letter has a conversational but polite language and tone. The impression the letter
makes on the reader may dictate the nature of his or her response. A business letter can be written
for different purposes. It can be for any of the following and even more:
116
a. to complain
b. to make a business proposal
c. to inform (particularly about a business transaction)
d. to recommend
e. to make an offer
Activity
Distribute copies of different business letters to the class. In groups of four to five members, have
the students evaluate the different business letters. Tell them to identify if the elements are clear or
not. If an element is not clear, have them justify their answer on a chart like the one below.
Mechanics
Clarity of (Spelling,
Business Letter Purpose Audience Grammar
message punctuation,
etc.)
117
3
For Advanced
Combining Sentences
Say to the group: Having a series of short sentences sometimes makes your writing seem
choppy. It would be more natural to combine some short sentences into longer but more
concise sentences. Take the following sentences for instance.
Write the following sentences on the board:
1. I have several skills. They include typing 45 words per minute and taking dictation.
2. Applicants should have good work ethic. They should also be able to work well in a team.
3. I can speak English fluently. I took special courses in oral communication.
4. Fill out the forms completely. Then put them in a sealed envelope. After that, submit
them to the director.
5. The architect lays out beautiful designs. The engineers ensure their structural integrity.
Say that the sentences above can be rewritten into the following sentences.
118
For Intermediate
Giving Relevant Information
Discuss the following:
People in a business such as those in the human resources or executive department are very
busy people. They often have to read large numbers of letters, memos, circulars and other
documents. This means they are not willing to read letters that have too much information,
particularly information that is not relevant to their business. If your business letter contains
too many words or has too much extra information, the recipient is likely to discard your letter
in favor of other, better-written letters. That is why, when you write your letters, you should
include only relevant information to your purpose and identity. You need not mention everything
about you nor too much information about your purpose.
Given the situations below, discuss with your group mates what information is relevant to
the letter sender’s purpose, including what aspects of the sender’s identity should be men-
tioned. Explain if a piece of information mentioned by your group mates is not relevant to the
situation. (Write the following on the board or use electronic presentation.)
a. writing to ask the business to let you present your product
b. writing to inform the business about your travel company’s summer promos
c. writing to complain about a business’ lapse in service
d. writing to recommend someone to a business
e. writing to inform a business that their offer has been accepted
For Beginners
Correct Forms of the Infinitive
Discuss the group the following:
An infinitive is a verb expression that does not contain any tense or aspect. It has the form.
to + base form of the verb
Since the base form of the verb is used, the verb must not have any of the following suffixes:
-ed
-ing
-en
-s
In the case of irregular verbs, the past or past participle of the verb must not be used. Rewrite
the following verbs as infinitives.
applied went
asks brought
given flown
writing saw
Keep this in mind as you write your business letter.
119
Different Types of Business Letters
In this topic, you may divide the class and assign each group to discuss a type of business letter. You
may access this link http://work.chron.com/10-types-business-letters-9438.html for the different
types. Exclude cover letter for this will be tackled in the proceeding lesson.
The body of a business letter is usually organized into three parts. The beginning should tell
why the sender is writing, the middle should give the needed details, and the ending should focus
on what happens next.
Direct the students to check the sample business letter on page 117 for reference.
Allow time for the students to write. Go around and check if anyone is having difficulties in
writing a business letter.
Editing
Editing for convention
After the students have written their first draft, instruct them to share their letter with a classmate
for him or her to edit for convention. In writing, convention refers primarily to punctuation, capi-
talization, spelling and occasionally, grammar.
120
Revising
Have the students revise their letters. Direct them to page 119 of their textbooks for the guides.
Criteria 3 2 1 0
Style and parts The letter follows One or two parts Three or four Five or more parts
the proper style of the letter are parts of the letter of the letter are
with the parts not clearly laid are not clearly laid not clearly laid
properly laid out in out according to a out according to out so the reader
the letter for easy specific style but a specific style has confusion in
reading. the format can still so the reader has discerning the
be discerned. some difficulty layout of the letter.
in discerning the
layout of the letter.
Language use The language The language The language The language
used in the letter used has used has used is totally
is completely some words many words inappropriate for
appropriate for or expressions or expressions business letters.
business letters. that are not that are not
appropriate for appropriate for
business letters. business letters.
Topic, The topic, purpose, One of the ff.: Two of the ff.: Either topic, pur-
purpose and applicant’s • topic • topic pose, or applicant’s
including identity are clearly • purpose • purpose identity is not found
applicant’s identified in the be- • applicant’s • applicant’s anywhere in the
identity, ginning of the body identity identity body of the letter.
audience of the letter. is not clearly iden- are not clearly iden-
tified in the begin- tified in the begin-
ning but are found ning but are found
elsewhere in the elsewhere in the
body of the letter. body of the letter.
Convention The letter The letter has The letter has many Mistakes in
follows proper some mistakes in mistakes in punc- punctuation,
punctuation, punctuation, spell- tuation, spelling, or spelling, or
spelling, and ing, or grammar but grammar such that grammar prevent
grammar. these do not hinder the reader has to the reader from
the reader from often stop and try making sense of
understanding the to understand the the letter.
letter clearly. letter.
121
Publishing online
After the students have revised their work and assessed their classmates’ work, instruct them about
publishing online.
Generalization
Synthesize the lesson by asking your students to answer the following questions:
a. What is a business letter?
b. What are the characteristics of a business letter?
End-of-Lesson Assessment
Assess your students’ business letters using the holistic rubric given at the start of this lesson. Based
on the rubric, you can identify who are advanced, intermediate, and beginners. Perform differentiated
instruction for each group.
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
Remediation
Revising the beginning part of the body
Say to the group: The beginning part of the body is crucial in encouraging the reader to read further or
in shelving your letter in favor of another one. Make sure that your beginning introduces the appropriate
identity of the sender. It also must express the purpose of the letter in clear and concise form.
Let your students consult you individually. Ask your students to let you read the beginning of each
of their letters. Give appropriate comments on the identity of the sender and the purpose of the letter.
Let them revise their work accordingly.
Reinforcement
Writing a good ending part of the body
Discuss the following to the group:
Having a good ending to the body of your letter can encourage your reader to take favorable action
about your letter. One good element of a good ending involves providing details that can help the reader
act on the letter. In addition, do not forget to thank the reader for taking time to read your letter. The
following are examples.
• Our office can be reached at this number - (office phone number). Thank you for your kind
consideration of our request.
• We have a secretary who is ready to take your call from 9 am to 4 pm at this number - (phone
number). Thank you very much for taking time to read our letter.
• Should you have any questions or would like to place an order, please do not hesitate to call our
numbers written at the bottom of this letter. Thank you.
• Thank you for your kind consideration of our proposal. We believe that this could be the start
of a fruitful business partnership. Please give us a call at this number - (telephone number).
• Your positive response will be greatly appreciated. Please call us at this number - (telephone
number). Thank you!
122
Enrichment
Improving long sentences
Write ‘Improving long sentences’ on the board.
Say to the group: A long sentence can sometimes be difficult or confusing to read. This is especially
true if the details in the sentence are not closely related. The writer needs to separate the long sentence
into two separate sentences.
Separate two unrelated sentences in a compound sentence.
Write ‘Separate two unrelated sentences in a compound sentence’ on the board. Say to the group:
One such problem occurs with compound sentences. A compound sentence is composed of two sentences
joined by a coordinate conjunction such as and, or, and but. However, if the two sentences in a compound
sentence are unrelated, they can be difficult to read. Consider the following sentences.
a. I am a graduate of Julian Sosa University and I can draw landscapes and shrubbery.
b. Our product is capable of removing tough stains and it costs two hundred pesos per can.
c. Your company may long be in the information technology sector but it may have an opening for
an audio technician.
d. Businesses need to improve their supply chain and your company is known for cultivating raw
talent.
e. We are a supplier of kitchen sinks but how many do you need?
Ask some individuals to separate each sentence into two. The following are possible answers:
a. I am a graduate of Julian Sosa University. I can draw landscapes and shrubbery.
b. Our product is capable of removing tough stains. It costs two hundred pesos per can.
c. Your company may long be in the information technology sector. However, it may have an
opening for an audio technician.
d. Businesses need to improve their supply chain and your company is known for cultivating raw talent.
Reflection
Have the students write in their journals the answer to the following questions:
1. What part of the lesson did I do well?
2. What part of the lesson did I not deliver as well as I wanted to?
3. What particular strategy or approach will I do well to employ in other lessons?
4. What aspect of the lesson must I try to improve?
5. How do I feel about my over-all performance in this lesson?
Additional Readings
• Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell’s Patterns for College Writing: A Rhetorical
Reader and Guide 11th Edition emphasizes critical reading including recognizing patterns
of development. Published by Bedford/St. Martin’s.
• The McGraw-Hill Guide: Writing for College, Writing for Life has a section on critical
thinking, reading, and writing. It gives a very extensive discussion on writing based on the
purposes for writing.
• Prentice Hall’s Grammar and Composition 1 discusses different ways of writing including
revising sentence errors.
123
Lesson 3 READING A SHORT STORY AND RESPONDING TO LITERATURE
LESSON OVERVIEW
Lesson three begins by discussing the purpose, characteristics, and types of resume with emphasis on how
the purpose affects the type of resume to be produced. Students are then asked to produce information
about themselves through the help of a resume building worksheet. Two options are then given in writing
a resume—using a resume generator online or using the targeted resume format. The lesson then shifts
into writing the cover letter by first describing the format of the letter. Then with a sample letter provided,
the students are asked to write their own cover letter.
Learning Competencies
After studying this lesson, the senior high school student is able to:
1. identify and examine the function, form, and effectiveness of a resume discussing samples with
their classmates
2. demonstrate the importance of rhetorical situations by marketing themselves to a defined audience
3. develop a working resume by using the resume generator
4. recognize how a cover letter works in conjunction with a resume by drafting them for a similar
purpose
5. write an effective cover letter
DIAGNOSTIC TEST
This pretest must be done a session before this lesson so that you may have enough time to check it.
Direct the students to read the short story “The Masque of the Red Death” by Edgar Allan Poe.
Assess your students by asking them to write a resume and cover letter. Because this is a pretest, DO
NOT give them any pointers in writing the essay including the length of letter, descriptions, or convention.
You can assess your students by using the following holistic rubric:
Instructional Plan
Make sure that the title of the lesson is written in front for the whole class to see.
124
A. Motivation
Role Play
Ask the class to do a role-play involving applicants for a job. There should be roles for HR personnel
as well as technical people in a panel of interviewers. Ask the students playing the role of panel
interviewers to create simple interview questions. There will be a substantial number of students
taking the role of applicants carrying the resume they created during the diagnostic test part. The panel
should try to point out to an applicant the things lacking in his or her resume. In the end, a certain
number of applicants should be “chosen” for the job based on their resume and interview results.
B. Presentation of Content
READ and DISCUSS
Genre Focus – Resume, pages 120-128
Tell the class that in this lesson they will not only write a resume and a cover letter but an effective
one for each.
Discuss that a resume is intended to inform a potential employer about the characteristics they
have that are relevant to the company’s purpose of hiring them. It should be arranged in such a way
as to be attractive and interesting to read.
Types of Resume
Discuss the different types of resume as discussed on page 121 of the textbook.
Activity
Have the students obtain different types of resume from the internet. You may direct them to the
following links:
http://www.primermagazine.com/2013/earn/12-more-free-resume-templates
https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-41-best-resume-templates-ever
You may also let them search other resume based on your preference. Group your class into
groups composed of six members each. Distribute copies of different resume types to each group.
Instruct each group to compare and contrast the three different resumes they have. Have them
use the table on types of resume to identify to which the examples belong. Tell them to use the
table on page 122 of their textbook as a guide in listing their observations.
Allow each group to study and write comments about the resume. Answer any question that
a group has about the activity.
After some time, ask for group volunteers who would like to share their work.
Activity
Create a soft copy of the worksheet on page 123 of the textbook. Send it to each student before
the class begins. Then instruct the students to fill it. Remind them to write the necessary infor-
mation completely and substantially. Then allow them to print a copy for you to give comments
on as a form of homework.
After some time, ask the class: What was easy and difficult about filling out this worksheet?
Allow the students to answer individually.
125
Ask: What sections contained the most amount of information and which ones contained the
least amount of information? Allow the students to answer individually.
Tell the students that they will continue to update their document as they go through their
academic and professional life.
Editing
Editing for relevant details
After the students have written their first draft, say to the class that they will now edit their work.
They will edit for relevant details. Instruct them also to share their work with their seatmates to
comment on information they need to remove and information they need to include in their resume.
Remind the students that not all information about them is relevant to the company they are applying
in. Filling their resume with information that is not relevant will make it longer and tedious to read.
Say that employers spend only six seconds to scan a resume.
Revising
Revising for relevant details
Allow the students to start revising their work based on their classmate’s comments.
126
For Intermediate
Revising for Conciseness
Discuss that conciseness means being able to express their ideas or thoughts in as few words
as possible. Say that employers have many resumes to read that is why they will simply skip
a resume that is too wordy in favor of resume that are straightforward and to the point.
Instruct the members of the group to ask their seatmates to underline sentences in their
resume that they find too wordy.
Allow the group to read and comment on their seatmates’ resume. Say that once they get
back their resume, have them rewrite the sentences their seatmates found to be too wordy.
Remind them to write in short but clear sentences. Allow the group to revise their resume.
For Beginners
Revising for Grammatical Accuracy
Say: In the Philippines, grammatical correctness in English is a plus for applicants. Employers’
opinions of their applicants and even employees tend to be influenced by their applicants’
and employees’ accuracy in English grammar. Let your seatmates check your resume for
grammatical accuracy.
Allow time for the group to check each group member’s resume for grammatical accuracy.
Do not be the one to check for grammatical accuracy as your students may become too pas-
sive in depending on you for checking. Instead, let them activate their knowledge of grammar
by checking their seatmates’ work.
Once they get back their resume, have them rewrite the sentences their seatmates found
to have grammatical inaccuracies. Allow the group to revise their resume.
127
Revising for Highlights
Allow the class to revise and highlight that qualities, skills, and accomplishments they have.
Publishing Online
After the students have revised their work and assessed their classmates’ work, instruct them about
publishing online. Remind them to omit any personally identifying information such as birthdate,
phone number, and address.
Generalization
Help the students develop an overall understanding of the lesson by asking them the following
questions:
1. What is a resume?
2. What are the different types of a resume?
3. Give an overview of a particular type of resume.
4. Give an advantage of a particular type of resume.
5. Give a disadvantage of a particular type of resume.
6. Describe your experience in writing your own resume.
7. Describe your experience in writing your own cover letter.
End-of-Lesson Test
Option 1
Ask a supervisor, manager, owner, or officer friend of yours in a business to drop in on the class at
the time that the students’ resume and cover letters are finished.
Let your friend assess the students’ resume and cover letters and choose the 33% who are highly
probable to be chosen for interview by a business (not necessarily the firm your friend belongs to),
the 33% who are probable to be chosen, and the 33% who are less likely to be chosen.
Option 2
Collect the papers of your students and give a photocopy of each to a supervisor, manager, or owner
of a business. Let the supervisor, manager, or business owner assess the students’ resume and cover
letters and choose the 33 percent who are highly probable to be chosen for interview by a business
(not necessarily the firm your friend belongs to), the 33% who are probable to be chosen, and the
33% who are less likely to be chosen. Based on the decision of the business people, you can identify
who are advanced, intermediate, and beginners. Perform differentiated instruction for each group.
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
Remediation
Revising the beginning part of the body
Write helpful tips on each member’s resume regarding how he or she can improve his or her resume.
Give back the resume and let the members read your comments.
Let the students consult with you regarding your comments in their resume.
128
Allow the students time to revise their work based on your comments.
After they finish their revisions, compare their latest work with the diagnostic part of the lesson
and praise them for their improvement.
Reinforcement
Getting Opinions from Business Professors
Discuss the following to the group:
Tell the group to approach a college professor who teaches business-related subjects. Tell them to ask
the professor to comment on their resume and cover letter. Instruct each member to share with their
classmates the comments they received. Our office can be reached at this number - (office phone num-
ber). Thank you for your kind consideration of our request.
Enrichment
Apply for Work
Encourage the group members to look for job fairs around the area and apply in companies that would
be willing to hire for summer or for part-time jobs. Tell them that they may even apply in actual busi-
ness establishments that are not in job fairs. Have them ask them if these companies would entertain
applicants who have their kind of resume and cover letter and if not, to politely ask them if they can
explain the reasons.
Ask the members to write down a reflection of their experience and then share it with the class in
another session.
Reflection
Have the students write in their journals the answer to the following questions:
1. What part of the lesson did I do well?
2. What part of the lesson did I not deliver as well as I wanted to?
3. What particular strategy or approach will I do well to employ in other lessons?
4. What aspect of the lesson must I try to improve?
5. How do I feel about my over-all performance in this lesson?
Additional Readings
• Andrea B. Geffner’s How to Write Better Business Letters features several sample letters
of applications as well as good samples of resume. It gives tips on how to ensure that your
resume is scannable because nowadays, hard copies of resume are scanned by employers to
save space. It also gives other tips about resume and cover letters from a business perspective.
• Elizabeth C. Long’s Resources for Writers (with Readings): Paragraphs and Essays has a
good discussion on writing an elegant resume. It includes tips on making your resume look
professional as well as what to put in your resume to increase the chances that you will be
noticed by prospective employers. It also discusses writing a good cover letter. Published
by Pearson.
• The website http://jobsearch.about.com is a good place to look for sample resumes of dif-
ferent types. It provides easy-to-read tips on writing different types of resume.
129
Lesson 4 WORKPLACE WRITING: MEMO AND ELECTRONIC MESSAGE
LESSON OVERVIEW
Lesson three begins by discussing the purpose, characteristics, and types of resume with emphasis on how
the purpose affects the type of resume to be produced. Students are then asked to produce information
about themselves through the help of a resume building worksheet. Two options are then given in writing
a resume—using a resume generator online or using the targeted resume format. The lesson then shifts
into writing the cover letter by first describing the format of the letter. Then with a sample letter provided,
the students are asked to write their own cover letter.
Learning Competencies
After studying this lesson, the senior high school student is able to:
1. identify the function of the business memo
2. recognize formatting conventions of memos and e-mails
3. distinguish the differences between good and poor memos
4. identify the key differences between email, memos, and letters
5. classify the appropriate use of email, memos, and letters
6. write and correctly format a basic business memoDIAGNOSTIC TEST
DIAGNOSTIC TEST
Post the following on the board written on any large paper or as an electronic presentation. Ask the
students to write their answers on their notebooks.
Assess your students by asking them to write a memo. Because this is a pretest, DO NOT give
them any pointers in writing the essay including length of essay, descriptions, or convention. Write the
following on the board:
You are the president of a school club or
organization, e.g. Debate Society. The adviser
wants you to inform the members of the club on
a new schedule and venue for trainings or meetings.
You can assess your students by using the following holistic rubric:
130
Instructional Plan
Make sure that the title of the lesson is written in front for the whole class to see. Make sure that the title
of the lesson is written in front for the whole class to see.
A. Motivation
Role Play
Share this funny memo from http://www.citehr.com/359027-funny-office-memo-all-employees.html
Post this on the board or use electronic presentation.
Personal Days:
Each employee will receive 104 personal days a year. They are called Saturdays and Sundays.
Lunch Breaks:
Skinny people get 30 minutes for lunch as they need to eat more so that they can look healthy. Normal
size people get 15 minutes for lunch to get a balanced meal to maintain their average size. Fat people
get 5 minutes for lunch, because that's all the time needed to drink a Slim Fast and take a diet pill.
Sick Days:
We will no longer accept a doctor statement as proof of sickness. If you are able to go to the doctor,
you are able to come to work.
Restroom Use:
Entirely too much time is being spent in the restroom. There is now a strict 3 minute time limit in
the stalls. At the end of 3 minutes, an alarm will sound, the toilet pater roll will retract, the stall door
will open and a picture will be taken. After your second offense, your picture will be posted on the
company bulletin board under the "Chronic Offender" category.
Surgery:
As long as you are employed here, you need all your organs. You should not consider removing
anything. We hired you intact. To have something removed will constitute a breach of employment.
Thank you for your loyalty to our company. We are here to provide a positive employment experience.
Therefore, all questions, comments, concerns, complaints, frustrations, irritations, aggravations,
insinuations, allegations, accusations, contemplation, and input should be directed elsewhere.
Have a nice week.
131
B. Presentation of Content
READ and DISCUSS
Genre Focus—Memo, pages 132-137
Discuss the following:
The word memo is a clipping of the word memorandum.
Memos are concise messages, which are very significant to the flow of information within any
professional organization or school organizations. Memos enable colleagues to—
• have a way of asking and answering questions;
• describe or define procedures;
• provide short reports; and
• remind others about deadlines and meeting.
In addition, a memo is less formal compared to a business letter. A memo may be shorter by a few
sentences to several paragraphs. The main purpose of a memo is to share information as clearly and
effectively as possible. Nowadays, especially in private companies, memos are usually sent via email.
Activity
Obtain memos from your department. Group your class into groups of three to four members each.
Distribute several copies of memos to each group. Instruct the groups to discuss the sample
memos using the questions on page 133 of their textbook. After the group discussion process
the questions with the whole class.
Activity
Draw a Venn diagram on the board and label each circle as ‘memo’ and ‘business letter.’
Instruct the class to draw a Venn diagram on their notebook and write the similarities between
a memo and a business letter in the middle space while the differences on the other spaces
inside each circle. Direct the class to page 114 to review the characteristics of business letters.
132
Activity
Discuss the following:
Memos may have several different contexts but they have certain common language expressions.
For instance, there is vocabulary used in memos to help identify the actions required such as:
• must
• employees are asked
• at your earliest convenience
• will come into effect
• please contact
These information are often found at the last part of a memo. Some memos also have
directions for recipients to get additional information or clarification such as:”
• if you have any questions
• for further information
Direct the class to accomplish the table on page 135.
Editing
Editing for punctuation and grammar
Have the students exchange memos and edit their seatmate’s work for punctuation and grammar mistakes.
Revising
Tell the students to exchange memos with another seatmate and check his or her work by asking the
questions on page 137 of their textbook.
133
Formative Assessment During the Lesson
Assess your students’ memo using the rubric you used during the start of the lesson. Based on your
assessment, group your students into advanced, intermediate, and beginners but do not inform the
class of the basis of the groupings. Perform differentiated instruction based on the groupings.
For Advanced
Introducing Familiar Ideas Before Unfamiliar Ideas
Say that writing clearly is very important in writing memos. Colleagues and subordinates need
to have a clear idea of what the memo writer is saying. One of the ways to write clearly is to
introduce familiar ideas before unfamiliar ones.
Instruct the group to compare the two versions of the same content.
Write the following on the board.
As part of our effort to acquire Rey’s Enigma Enterprises, our company will engage
in a process called ‘due diligence.’ The investigation conducted by a company to
know the status, assets, and liabilities of an entity it is trying to acquire in order to
avoid legal or financial difficulties arising from its acquisition is called due diligence.
As part of our effort to acquire Rey’s Enigma Enterprises, our company will engage
in a process called ‘due diligence.’ Due diligence is when a company conducts
an investigation to know the status, assets, and liabilities of an entity it is trying to
acquire in order to avoid legal or financial difficulties arising from its acquisition.
Ask: Which is better between the two versions? Why?
Say: To help make your writing clearer, always begin with familiar ideas before introducing
unfamiliar ones. Share your work with your seatmates and let them see if your sentences
introduce familiar ideas before introducing unfamiliar ones. Revise your writing based on your
seatmate’s comments.
For Intermediate
Choosing Between Active and Passive Voice
Ask: When should you construct your sentences in passive voice? Say to the group that they
can use the passive voice when the doer of the action is not known or is not important. Write
the following on the board:
It has come to my attention that the main door was left unlocked yesterday.
Tell the group to use passives when the doer of the action is not important. Write the following
on the board.
The main door must always be locked at the end of the day to ensure security.
However, remind the group that in giving instructions through memos, it would be more pow-
erful when the doer of the action is clear.
All of you must take responsibility in ensuring that you lock the door instead of
expecting others to do so.
Instruct the students to ask their seatmates to check their memos and see if the active or
passive voice is more appropriate in their sentences.Then allow them to make the necessary
revisions when they get back their paper.
134
For Beginners
Writing Shorter Memos
Help this group become comfortable with writing memos by focusing on several short memos:
Write the following on the board:
• inform employees of a change in venue
• request subordinates to avoid making too much noise
• ask for information for someone’s lost pair of eyeglasses
• announce the presence of a new water dispenser
• encourage employees to donate to a charity
Guide the group in finishing this short-writing activity.
E-mail Netiquette
Call on a few students to discuss the netiquette in writing an e-mail.
You put email addresses in the bcc: field if those recipients do not need to know who else is
informed about the email or do not need to communicate with each other regarding the email.
Sometimes if you include email addresses outside of the organization and you are therefore not as
confident of the security of their email, you put the email addresses into the bcc: field in order to
prevent spammers from knowing the email addresses.
135
Writing an e-mail
Tell the class that they are going to write two emails—the first inviting somebody to a meeting or
an event; and the second answering to someone else who is inviting you. For the exercise, have the
students write on their your paper the sender, cc:, and/or bcc: fields.
Organizing an e-mail
Call on some volunteers to explain the parts of an e-mail.
An e-mail must have a heading, beginning, middle, and ending.
1. The heading is composed of the sender and recipient fields which must be filled out. It also has
the subject field which must be filled with a relevant and concise description of the message or
topic.”
2. The beginning contains the salutation and the first sentence. The first sentence must contain the
purpose of the email in concise form.
3. The middle must explain concisely the intended message of the sender. In other words, it must
provide all the necessary information or details of the sender’s message limited to one or two
screens. The message must also be organized using numbers, lists, or headings.
4. The ending must include a polite closure making sure the reader is aware what follow-up action
is required when necessary.
E-mail 1
Generating Ideas
Have the class answer the questions on page 139.
Email 2
Generating Ideas and Writing the e-mail
Tell the students to come up with a reply by either accepting the invitation or rejecting it. Have them
choose one from the corresponding on page 140.
Editing
1. Say to the class, “consult with your seatmates to check if you placed the email addresses on the
right fields as discussed in our lesson on cc: and bcc: fields.”
2. Say to the class, “in addition, let your classmates check if you followed the format correctly.
Remember, business or academic email is stricter than email between friends.”
Revising
1. Say to the class, “once you get back your paper, place the email addresses in the correct fields
as explained by your classmates.”
2. Say to the class, “in addition, make the necessary corrections to follow the format of business
or academic email.”
136
Generalization
Help the students develop an overall understanding of the lesson by asking them the following
questions:
1. What is a memo?
2. What are some similarities between memos and business letters?
3. What are some differences between memos and business letters?
4. What are the parts of a memo?
5. What is the purpose of business or academic e-mail?
6. What is the format of business or academic e-mail?
7. Give some netiquette for writing and sending an e-mail?
8. Differentiate the cc: and bcc: fields.
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
Remediation
Additional Netiquette
Begin the activity by stating that many people have been communicating through the internet, but it
seems many are also unaware of the need to practice good etiquette when communicating using the
internet such as in sending an e-mail.
For every rule you will discuss, ask the group: Why do you think this rule is important?
Write the following on the board:
1. Do not reply to an existing e-mail as a way of starting a new e-mail, especially when you do
not change the subject. [This will be interpreted by the email application as part of an existing
thread and may get lost.]
2. Use the office e-mail only for office-related matters. Do not send personal e-mail or any e-mail
not related to the business using office email addresses. This is especially true for sending ad-
vertisements.
3. Do not use your office e-mail in registering for websites. Instead, use your personal email.
[Registering in websites may expose your email to advertisers and/or spammers who will flood
your inbox with advertisements.]
4. Do not use reply-all when your reply concerns only the sender.
5. Be polite. Do not use abusive language. Using abusive language is very tempting because you
are not face to face with the recipient.
6. Use the right priority level. E-mail messages usually have flags that identify if a message has
high, medium or normal, or low priority. Do not label all your messages as high.
7. Do not assume that the other person is being sarcastic unless there is clear evidence.
8. Always try to be literal. The use of non-literal may be misinterpreted.
9. Use inclusive language. Do not use sexist language. Use words that apply to both sexes.
10. Do not send very large attachments, particularly pictures. Usually, 2 MB attachments are con-
sidered large.
11. Do not send copyrighted material. [You can be sued for storing copyrighted material in your
e-mail.]
137
Remind the group that practicing good netiquette is part of professionalism. It will be valuable
in whatever job or position they take.
Reinforcement
Avoiding Long Lead-ins
Discuss the following to the group:
Say that lead-ins are introductory words that are intended to produce a smooth flow of ideas. Lead-ins
are intended to prepare for the actual message in a sentence. However, when a lead-in is too long, it
defeats the purpose of producing a smooth flow of ideas.
Write the following on the board or use an electronic presentation:
Enrichment
Business Deadwood
Discuss some business deadwood. They may sound business-like but they have become tiring to read
or listen to.
138
Pursuant to your request At your request
Filled to capacity full
In reference to about
Remind the group to free their writing of these business deadwood. Have the students check their
own work for business deadwood.
Reflection
Have the students write in their journals the answer to the following questions:
1. What part of the lesson did I do well?
2. What part of the lesson did I not deliver as well as I wanted to?
3. What particular strategy or approach will I do well to employ in other lessons?
4. What aspect of the lesson must I try to improve?
5. How do I feel about my over-all performance in this lesson?
Additional Readings
• Andrea B. Geffner’s How to Write Better Business Letters includes a discussion on elec-
tronic mail in the context of business. It talks about practices that may be acceptable in
very informal communication but are not considered professional. It also has a section that
discusses email format and redundancies. Published by Barron’s.
• Mary Ellen Guffey, Patricia Rogin, and Kathleen Rhodes’ Business Communication: Process
and Product discusses dealing with trite business phrases, empty words, nouniness, com-
pound prepositions, redundancies, long lead-ins, and fillers. Published by Nelson Education.
• Slideshare.net has presentations on netiquette, conciseness, and deadwood.
139
UNIT ASSESSMENT
Match the items in part A with the correct items in part B by writing the corresponding letter on the line
for each item.
A.
______1. lists the jobs an applicant held starting with latest
______2. a business letter style in which the date and the closing are indented
______3. extends beyond literary analysis to evaluate and discuss how and why the text
is effective or not effective
______4. highly focused resume intended for a specific job
______5. what a business letter ending focuses on
______6. gives purpose for passing the resume and job elements an applicant looks for
______7. a story that uses symbols to teach a particular lesson
______8. a possible purpose for a business letter
______9. a possible function of a memo
______10. indicates strong employment record with increasing mobility
______11. very short messages significant to the flow of information within an organization
______12. informs a company about the relevant skills an applicant has
______13. highlights particular strengths and transferable skills
______14. usual length of a cover letter
______15. considered as shouting in e-mail
B.
A. to remind others about deadlines and meetings
B. three pages
C. functional resume
D. allegory
E. modified block
F. cover letter
G. resume
H. one to two pages
I. literature review
J. metaphor
K. chronological resume
L. what happens next
M. use of capital letters
N. provide needed details
140
O. memo
P. targeted resume
Q. block
R. response to literature
S. to invite to a social gathering
T. to recommend
U. combination resume
Answers:
1. K
2. E
3. R
4. P
5. L
6. F
7. D
8. T
9. A
10. U
11. O
12. G
13. C
14. H
15. M
13. F
14. A
15. K
141
Unit 4 Text and Text Connections
UNIT OVERVIEW
This unit is divided into three parts. The first two lessons discuss important concepts in writing. In the
third lesson, the students will evaluate and respond to arguments and claims in a text. In the fourth les-
son, the students will write their own critique of a text by applying the principles, guidelines, and skills
discussed in this book.
CONTENT STANDARD
The learner realizes that information in a written text may be selected and organized to achieve a particular
purpose, understand the relationship of a written text, and the context in which it was developed and
understands the requirements of composing academic writing and professional correspondence.
PERFORMANCE STANDARD
The learner critiques a chosen sample of each pattern of development focusing on information selection,
organization, and development, writes a 1000-word critique of a selected text on the basis of its claim/s,
context, and properties as a written material, and produces each type of academic writing and professional
correspondence following the properties of well-written texts and process approach.
LESSON OVERVIEW
In this lesson, the students will learn the concept of a claim and the three kinds of claims—claim of fact,
claim of value, and claim of policy.
Learning Competencies
After studying this lesson, the senior high school student is able to:
1. understand different kinds of claims
2. formulate different kinds of claims
3. extract implicitly stated claims from a written text
DIAGNOSTIC TEST
Post the following on the board written on any large paper or as an electronic presentation. Ask the
students to write their answers on their notebooks.
142
2. Which of the following is NOT a claim?
a. Bananas are rich in vitamins.
b. Some computers are more intelligent than humans.
c. We should prioritize dealing with climate change.
d. It’s more fun in the Philippines.
3. Which of the following is NOT a claim of policy?
a. Human beings must become vegetarians.
b. Filipinos do not need to take a bath every day.
c. I must wash my clothes.
d. Mineral water plastic bottles should not be reused.
4. Which of the following is a claim of value?
a. Silver is a good conductor of electricity.
b. Diesel prices should be subsidized by the government.
c. Sunlight can be used to cook food.
d. Palawan is a fun place for taking a vacation.
5. Which of the following is NOT a claim of fact?
a. Malaysia is not a European country.
b. Classical music can calm an angry mob.
c. Atlantis is located near Turkey.
d. Food supplements do not really promote health.
6. Which of the following is a claim of policy?
a. Lagundi is a better cough medicine than synthetic drugs.
b. Little children should not be allowed to play video games.
c. Garbage can be turned into oil.
d. Plants also think.
7. Which of the following is NOT a claim of value?
a. The book version is always better than the movie version.
b. The local government is doing well.
c. Honey can be a non-perishable food in Mars.
d. Filipinos are very good in speaking English.
8. Which of the following is a claim of fact?
a. The death penalty must be restored.
b. Eating vegetables benefits a person’s health.
c. Filipinos are very good singers.
d. The government is trying to sterilize poor people.
9. Which of the following is TRUE?
a. Claims are statements accepted universally.
b. Negative statements cannot be claims.
c. All claims of policy are also claims of fact.
d. Claims of value relate to what is good or bad.
143
10. Which of the following is FALSE?
a. Claims must have a degree of controversy.
b. Claims must be related to an issue.
c. Claims of policy must be related to legal issues.
d. Claims of policy talk about conditions that must exist.
Answers
1. B 6. B
2. A 7. C
3. C 8. D
4. D 9. D
5. A 10. C
Instructional Plan
Make sure that the title of the lesson is written in front for the whole class to see.
A. Motivation
Prepare pictures related to the following claims:
Claims, some of them outrageous
1. The moon landing in 1969 was staged in a studio.
2. General Antonio Luna gave a large portion of the Revolution’s gold to his lover Ysidra Cojuangco
for safekeeping.
3. Taxes should be decreased.
4. The Filipino is worth dying for. (Ninoy Aquino)
5. The American High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is used to create
many typhoons in the Philippines.
6. Human beings should become vegetarians.
7. The air in Metro Manila is polluted.
8. Our ancestors did not come here in waves.
9. Columbus Day in the USA should not be celebrated.
10. Mermaids are actually apes that evolved in the sea.
Tell the class that you will show some claims, some of which are bizarre and outrageous. Some
of these are called conspiracy theories. Show the corresponding pictures to the students as you share
each claim.
Say that most claims are not as bizarre as some claims given above and that the class will study
three kinds of these claims.
B. Presentation of Content
READ AND DISCUSS, PAGES 142-145
Definition
Write the word claim on the board. Ask: Who can define for us the word claim? Let the students
answer individually.
144
After the students have given their answers, post the following on the board using visual aid or
an electronic presentation.
A claim is a statement that is not considered accepted by all. A claim
may be unverified or controversial to a certain degree. It is usually
related to one side of an issue. If so, the claim is also called a position.
This tells us that not all statements or declarative sentences are claims. For example, nobody
would probably dispute that the sun is the center of the solar system, so such a statement is not a
claim.”
Say to the class, “remember, a claim must be controversial to a certain degree. It must divide
people into those who agree and those who disagree.”
Facts that are universally accepted are not considered claims of fact because there is no more
disagreement about their truthfulness. Claims of fact talk about what is or what is not. They say that
certain conditions exist. The following are examples of claims of fact:
• Santa Claus is real.
• Cancer is not contagious.
• The Earth is warming rapidly.
• The atmosphere has too much carbon dioxide.
• Multi-function printers tend to break down easily.
Claims of Value
(Write the phrase Claim of value on the board.)
Claims of value are evaluative statements. They are statements about which is better, more
important, more desirable, more needed, or more useful. They may also relate to what is good or
bad. Claims of value may also refer to what people prefer or like. Write the following below Claim
of value on the board.
• evaluative statements
• relate to which is better, more, or less
145
• can be judgments about good or bad
• refer to what people prefer or like
The following are examples of claims of value: (Write the following on the board.
It’s more fun in the Philippines. (Official tourism catch phrase)
Red is a happy color.
This is a very good school.
Growing up speaking Filipino instead of English is more advantageous for a Filipino child.
It is better to be feared than loved. (Machiavelli)
Buying and fixing an old house is cheaper than building a new one.
Claims of Value
(Write the phrase Claim of policy on the board.)
Finally, claims of policy are all about what should be. They say that a particular situation should
arise. They prescribe a particular course of action that would lead to a condition. They are usually
made in relation to solving societal problems. They talk about conditions that must happen. The
following are claims of policy: (Write the following on the board.)
The death penalty must be revived.
A national ID system should be adopted.
Students must carry whistles all the time.
Beauty contests should be banned.
All public transportation should be operated by the government.
The government must devote more funds to building schools than building roads.
Activity 1
Instruct the class to answer the activity on page 144.
Answers:
1. CP
2. CP
3. CF
4. CP
5. CV – (how do you define ‘fast’? Therefore, this is a claim of value)
6. CV
7. CP
8. CV
9. CV (for 8 and 9: Judging if someone is well-trained is a form of evaluation. Therefore, these are
CVs.)
10. CP (In contrast to number 8, this talks about a condition.)
11. CV
12. CV (Whether something harms children is an evaluation.)
13. CV (Saying something is dangerous is an evaluation.)
14. CV
146
Activity 2
Direct the class to page 145. Have them copy the table in their notebooks. Then, instruct them to for-
mulate their own claims and write them on the appropriate columns.
Later, allow the students to share their claims. Verify if the claims are indeed of fact, value, or policy.
Refer them to the definitions and examples of a kind of claim if they are finding difficulty in identifying
the kind of claim their specific statement is.
It is better to have loved and lost than not to have loved at all. (Tennyson)
147
Also, you need to know the reputation of the source of the claim. If the source is known to be
a shady character, unscrupulous author, corrupt journalist, or a fringe partisan (someone who
has what are considered to have extreme ideas or biases), then that person’s claim is likely
to be unbelievable and must be rejected.
148
Evaluating claims, especially claims of policy, can be difficult but the rewards can be very
beneficial to you and the people around you.
For Intermediate
Evaluating claims made by sources
Say to the group: Copy the table on activity 3 of page 145 in your textbook. Then, choose your
preferred text from chapter 2. Write the title of the text in the space provided. Then, collect
around five of each kind of claim from the text and write them in the appropriate columns.
Allow the students to answer. Later, let them share what they collected. Verify if what they wrote
is truly a claim of fact, value, or policy. Refer them to the definitions and examples of a kind
of claim if they are finding difficulty in identifying the kind of claim their specific statement is.
For Beginners
Repost on the board the claims given at the start of the lesson.
Instruct the members to write CF, CV, or CP as to whether the claim on the board is a claim
of fact, claim of value, or claim of policy. Call on several students to explain their answers.
Generalization
Help the students develop an overall understanding of the lesson by asking them the following
questions.
1. What is a claim?
2. What is a claim of fact?
3. What is a claim of value?
4. What is a claim of policy?
End-of-Lesson Test
Re-administer the diagnostic test given during the start of the lesson. Based on the student’s answers,
divide the students into groups of advanced, intermediate, and beginners but do not inform the class.
Perform differentiated instruction.
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
Remediation
Standards used in evaluation
Ask the group to search for standards or scales used in evaluating the following. You may also encourage
them to search for organizations that evaluate them. Post the following on the board.
1. K-12 schools
2. business corporations
3. English proficiency
4. hotels
5. economic performance of countries
Instruct them to make a presentation about the standards, scales or organizations. Remind them to
give a short description of them.
149
Reinforcement
Evaluating a claim of policy
Find an article in which the author is making a claim of policy. Give each student in the group a copy of
the article. Let each of them discuss outside of class why or why they should not agree with the claim
of policy. Say to the group that they will present their conclusion and explanation to the class on another
session. Let the group present on another session.
Enrichment
Evaluating a claim of value
Find an advertisement for a supplement such as herbal tea. Say to the group, to evaluate if the claim is
acceptable by searching in the internet regarding the health benefits of the ingredients of the supplement.
Remind them to ascertain the website they consult belong to reputable scientists and medical associations.
Let them interview the school doctor or science teachers regarding the claims of the supplement you
shared with them. Tell the group to present their findings to the class on another session. Let them present
their findings to the class on another session.
Reflection
Have the students write in their journals the answer to the following questions:
1. What part of the lesson did I do well?
2. What part of the lesson did I not deliver as well as I wanted to?
3. What particular strategy or approach will I do well to employ in other lessons?
4. What aspect of the lesson must I try to improve?
5. How do I feel about my overall performance in this lesson?
Additional Readings
• The website http://www.nyu.edu/classes/keefer/nature/WW2claims.pdf has a good discussion
of claims including claims of fact, value, and policy.
• Brooke Noel Moore and Richard Parker’s Critical Thinking has an entire section devoted
to evaluating claims and another entire section on evaluating arguments. This book is all
about logic and reasoning. It also discusses rhetorical devices and pseudo-reasoning. The
section on the strengths of a good explanation is very informative.
• Prentice Hall’s Grammar and Composition has a section on critical thinking skills. It discusses
different forms of reasoning using fact, opinion, and valid reasoning. It also discusses uses
of language. The section on critical thinking has a writing workshop.
150
Lesson 2 CONTEXT OF TEXT DEVELOPMENT
LESSON OVERVIEW
This lesson builds on the idea that a text is not created in isolation, rather there is a context in which a text
is written. The lesson expands this concept by discussing hypertextuality and intertextuality. Different
kinds of intertextuality are discussed with examples provided.
Learning Outcomes
After studying this lesson, the senior high school student is able to:
1. understand the concept of hypertext and intertextuality
2. obtain information in a customized way through hypertext
3. make connections between a text and the context in which the text is developed
DIAGNOSTIC TEST
Post the following on the board written on any large paper or as an electronic presentation. Ask the
students to write their answers on their notebooks. Give these instructions to the class:
Get your answer sheet or notebook and number them from 1 – 3. Skip one line per number. You will
be given three texts. Identify what kind of intertextuality is found in each text and briefly explain why.
Answers may be different as long as you can justify your answer.”
Give the students copies of the three texts given below.
151
He was, he stated, of a distinctly literary turn of mind, and during his four years at college
imbibed some slight information concerning the English classics as well as modern history
and metaphysics, so that he could talk quite glibly about Chaucer, Beaumont and Fletcher,
Thomas Love Peacock, and Ann Radcliffe, and speak with apparent familiarity about Kant
and Schopenhauer.
I Have a Dream
by Martin Luther King, Jr.
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration
for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed
the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of
hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It
came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
Answers:
Answers may vary as long as the students can justify their answers.
1. Allusion - Lincoln alludes to the US constitution’s declaration that all men are created equal.
2. Allusion – The author is alluding to a series of papers.
3. Pastiche – Mr. King is imitating the start of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg address when he
said, “five score years ago.”
Another possible answer is allusion since he is also alluding to Abraham Lincoln’s emancipation
proclamation.
Instructional Plan
Make sure that the title of the lesson is written in front for the whole class to see.
A. Motivation
First, show an actual video of one of Hitler’s speeches. You need not finish the entire speech, just
show the parts where Hitler is gesticulating wildly. You can find a speech using this url: https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=EV9kyocogKo. You may also find other similar Hitler speeches in the internet.
Then play a video of Charlie Chaplin doing a parody of Adolf Hitler.
After presenting the Hitler video present a video of Charlie Chaplin doing a parody of Adolf
Hitler. You may access it using this url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oSN1CnXAAA You
may also find other similar speeches of Charlie Chaplin doing a parody of Adolf Hitler in the internet.
B. Presentation of Content
READ AND DISCUSS, PAGES 146-155
Hypertextuality
Discuss the following:
Hypertext refers to connected texts that can be accessed by referencing a word (or several words) in
one text. Today texts are connected by links or references to other pages. Moving from one part of the
text or to another text in a different page is done by clicking a word indicated by some means such
152
as a different color or underlining to have a link to another page. Moving from one text to another
in a hypertext can be done without the internet. One example is when you have an encyclopedia in
a CD or flash drive. It will contain a start page where you can access other pages through clicking.
This is possible because the texts are organized as a hypertext.
If the pages you are accessing are found on the internet, then you use what is called HTTP or
hypertext transfer protocol. This enables you to load pages from the internet into your browser. The
texts can be located because they are placed in a server. Their location in a server is identified using
a URL or a uniform resource locator. This is commonly known as the web address and may often
be found in the web address bar of your browser.
Have the class read the background on hypertext on page 146.
Activity
Allow the students to do the activity on page 147.
After some time, tell the class, “compare your work with your seatmates and see how different
your sequence is from theirs. Briefly explain how you came up with your sequence.”
Intertextuality
Discuss the following:
Intertextuality refers to how the creation of a text is influenced by other texts. When a writer writes
a text, he or she does so in a way that ideas and properties of a text are shaped by ideas and prop-
erties of other texts.
The following are kinds of intertextuality—retelling, allusion, quotation, and pastiche.
Retelling
Retelling is when an author restates what other texts contain. It could be in the form of a retelling
of a narrative or a re-expression of an idea or concept. In the Bible, for example, several passages
in the New Testament retell stories found in the Old Testament such as in Acts 13: 17–22.
Direct the students to read the paragraphs on page 148.
“The God of this nation of Israel chose our ancestors and made them
multiply and grow strong during their stay in Egypt. Then with a powerful
arm he led them out of their slavery. He put up with them through forty
years of wandering in the wilderness. Then he destroyed seven nations in
Canaan and gave their land to Israel as an inheritance. All this took about
450 years.
“After that, God gave them judges to rule until the time of Samuel the
prophet. Then the people begged for a king, and God gave them Saul son
of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years. But
God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God
said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will
do everything I want him to do.’”
153
This passage in the New Testament is a retelling of several narratives in the Old Testament. For
example, the description about making the Israelites multiply and grow strong is found in Exodus
1:9 where the Egyptian leader talks about how the Israelites have grown numerous and strong: (post
this on the board or use electronic presentation)
“He said to his people, “Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are
stronger than we are.”
The description about how God powerfully led them out of Egypt is a reference to the narratives
in Exodus 3 – 14 where it talks about how God led them out of Egypt by displaying His power.
Show several movie clips about the event. You may use a browser and projector to legally show
some movie clips from the following url:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltuxm4tlZXw (for rent or sale)
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTpKYlFVtyQ
Encourage the class to know more about it. Have them read the book of Exodus about how God
led the descendants of Israel from Egypt and guided them through the desert.
The reference to the Israelites’ entry into Canaan is found in the book of Joshua; the reference
to the judges (local leaders) is found in the book of Judges; and the stories of the prophet Samuel,
King Saul and King David are found in the first and second books of Samuel.
Post a picture of the books of Joshua, Judges, and Samuel such as the following:
154
Ask the class to give more examples of retelling. Ask them if they have read the story of William
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and the story of Pyramus and Thisbe. Call on someone to tell the
class the story.
Allusion
Allusion is when an author directly or indirectly refers to an idea or passage in another text without
actually quoting the text. Allusion is a very common example of intertextuality. It is found in both
written and spoken language. Many texts, including the Bible, contain allusion to other texts.
Ask the students to turn to page 149 of their textbooks and ask them to examine the given ex-
amples of allusion.
1. Journalist Kristen Mark makes an allusion to Alfred Lord Tennyson’s quote about loving and
losing being better than never loving at all.
2. An article in The Economist titled “CHART: Drugs that cause the most harm” alludes to an
article published by The Lancet.
3. The boy who cried wolf tells the story of a boy who kept telling villagers that there was a wolf
when there was none. Finally, when a wolf actually attached his flock and he cried to the vil-
lagers, they no longer believed him. Author Lee Harris makes a reference to that story.
4. A portion of a text from the book of Isaiah Chapter 40 verses 6 and 8.
155
Say to the class: Take note by the way that an older text cannot allude to a newer text. Therefore,
between an older and newer text which mentions very similar ideas, the probability is that the newer
text may allude to the old and never the old to the newer.
Quotation
Another very common type of intertextuality is quotation. It involves a direct quote by a text of
another text. In this kind of intertextuality, the author takes a string of words from another text.”
Discuss the four examples on pages 150-151.
The first example is a quote from Shylock, the Jew in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of
Venice.Post the following on the board or use electronic presentation.
“I am a Jew. Hath
not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs,
dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with
the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject
to the same diseases, healed by the same means,
warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as
a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?
if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison
us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not
revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will
resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian,
what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian
wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by
Christian example? Why, revenge. The villany you
teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I
will better the instruction.”
Taken from http://shakespeare.mit.edu/merchant/merchant.3.1.html
Have the class compare the string of words shown here and the quote on page 150.
The next example is a quote from Nelson Mandela in an article by US Secretary of Education
Arne Duncan for USAID. Nelson Mandela’s words are among the most quoted by personalities in
the 21st century.”
[picture of Nelson Mandela ]
156
The third example is a thesis paper quoting Ralph Fasold, an authoritative writer in the
field of linguistics. Have the class note the reference in the end identifying the author of
the quote, the year in which his work was written, and the page the quote came from.
The last example is a commentary about the first time a vice-president took over the re-
sponsibilities of a president who died in office. The commentary quoted a portion of the
US constitution and commented that there was no provision to allow the vice-president
to become the president.”
Pastiche
A pastiche is a text written in such a way that it imitates the style or other properties of another text,
without mocking the text, as in a parody.
Before you continue the discussion on pastiche, show a pastiche of Michael Jackson’s song,
“Beat It.” Play the video of “Beat It” and tell the class to watch it.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym0hZG-zNOk
After playing that video, play the video of Weird Al Yankovich for “Eat It.”
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve1tz3vS2fcoo
Sometimes, a text becomes very significant that its style or other characteristic is copied by other
works. Call on some students to give an example of a pastiche and explain it.
157
For Advanced
Parody
Parody is another form of intertextuality. Like pastiche, it also imitates the structure or elements
of a text. Text may come in the form of written texts, utterances, or even presentations.
Another word for parody is lampoon. Many movies were produced as parodies or lam-
poons of other movies.
For example, the Austin Powers movie series is a parody of the James Bond movie series.
Use a browser and electronic projector to show the movie posters of Austin Powers 1, 2 and
3 legally from the following websites:
• http://b-i.forbesimg.com/scottmendelson/files/2013/11/Austin-Powers-International-Man-
of-Mystery-movie-poster.jpg
• https://www.google.com/search?q=austin+powers+movie+ad&biw=1366&
bih=635&tbm=isch&imgil=yzMzHgeEcc-PZM%253A%253BVWCer5Gv9_
WslM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.imdb.com%25252Ftitle%25252Ftt0
295178%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=yzMzHgeEcc-PZM%253A%252CVWCer5Gv9_
WslM%252C_&usg=__v_vpL-EdH7CT9F93mGvEH6DHZow%3D#imgrc=FTmEJ8bkYq
80VM%3A
You may also easily search them.
Use a browser and electronic projector to show the movie posters of several James Bond
movies from the following website:
• http://www.barbara-bach.com/spywholovedme9.html
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/mobile-app-reviews/9659398/James-Bond-50-
Years-of-Movie-Posters-app-review.html
• http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/09/04/50-years-james-bond-posters-postcards-
sean-connery-daniel-craig_n_1854428.html
Epic Movie is another example. It is a parody of several epic movies including 300, The
Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the Harry Potter films, Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory, and X-Men.
Use a browser and electronic projector to legally show the movie poster of Epic Movie
from the following website:
• http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0799949/
Use a browser and electronic projector to show the movie posters of 300, The Chroni-
cles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the Harry Potter films, Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory, and X-Men from the following websites:
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/300_%28film%29
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Narnia:_The_Lion,_the_Witch_and_the_
Wardrobe#/media/File:The-chronicles-of-narnia-poster.jpg
158
Find your preferred image of the Harry Potter series, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and
X-Men. Show them using a browser and projector.
Ask: Who can point out similar scenes between Epic Movie and several epic movies?
Discuss the similar scenes between Epic Movie and several epic movies. If you have
time, you may also discuss the similarity between Scary Movie and several horror movies
that it lampoons.
For Intermediate
Battle Hymn of the Republic: one of the most imitated songs
Say to the group the following:
At one point in your life, you have probably heard someone sing, ‘Gloria, Gloria labandera!
That is a pastiche from the hymn, “Battle Hymn of the Republic. Take note, however, depending
on how you view it, you might think of Gloria labandera as a parody instead of a pastiche. A
parody is imitation intended for mockery while a pastiche is imitation indented to celebrate
the original work. There have been many songs especially in radio commercials based on
“Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Let me show you the lyrics of the hymn, “Battle Hymn of the
Republic.” Later, I will let you hear how it is sung.
Make copies of the following and give copies to the students. You can also write it on the
board and let the students copy.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored,
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword,
His truth is marching on.
159
Glory, glory, hallelujah! Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Glory, glory, hallelujah!
Since God is marching on!
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never sound retreat,
He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgement seat,
O, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant my feet,
Our God is marching on!
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me,
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free,
Our God is marching on!
Play a video or audio of “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” You may play it from this website:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7GzUvGiF48
You may also find another means of letting the class hear it, including letting some students
who know the song sing it or play it on the piano.
There have been many imitation songs of “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” One of the more
famous ones is a parody by Mark Twain, the famous author of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry
Finn who was also an ardent anti-imperialist. He put his own lyrics to the song as a means
of protesting against the colonization of the Philippines by the United States. Make copies of
the following and give copies to the students. You can also write it on the board and let the
students copy.
Mine eyes have seen the orgy of the launching of the Sword;
He is searching out the hoardings where the stranger’s wealth is stored;
He hath loosed his fateful lightnings, and with woe and death has scored;
His lust is marching on.
160
We have legalized the strumpet and are guarding her retreat*
Greed is seeking out commercial souls before his judgement seat;
O, be swift, ye clods, to answer him! be jubilant my feet!
Our god is marching on!
For Beoginners
Allusions in Songs
Remind the students to always remember that allusion is when an author in a written or spo-
ken text refers to the writings or utterances of another person. That is why allusion can also
be found in songs.
Have the group to individually think of five songs with allusions. Present the following
table and have them put the lyrics in focus and the text they refer to. Text in this case can be
another song or an oral utterance from another source.
Allow the group to do their work. Go around and see if everyone is doing his or her work.
After some time, let the students share their work. Ask: Who would like to share what
they thought of regarding allusions?
161
Translation as another form of intertextuality
Discuss translation.
Translation is another form of intertextuality. By its very nature the translated text is influenced by
the source text from which it was translated from. Cconsider the pledge of allegiance to the United
States flag and the older Filipino generation’s pledge of allegiance to the Philippine flag.
(Show the following to the class:)
Generalization
Help the students develop an overall understanding of the lesson by asking them the following
questions.
1. What is hypertextuality?
2. What is intertextuality?
3. Give an example of intertextuality and briefly discuss its characteristics.
End-of-Lesson Test
Based on the student’s answers, divide the students into groups of advanced, intermediate, and
beginners, but do not inform the class. Perform differentiated instruction.
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
Remediation
Comparing Romeo and Juliet and Pyramus and Thisbe
Tell the group that Romeo and Juliet can be considered a retelling of “Pyramus and Thisbe” according
to literature faculty. Read a synopsis of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
You may read the one found in the following website:
• https://www.playshakespeare.com/romeo-and-juliet/synopsis
Next, read to the group a synopsis of “Pyramus and Thisbe.” You may read the one found in the
following website:
• http://www.pantheon.org/articles/p/pyramus_and_thisbe.html
Ask: What similarities do you see between the two stories? Let the students answer individually.
Comment on their answers.
162
Reinforcement
Retelling in movies
Say to the group that many Filipino and English language movies are retellings of other older stories.
Many of them come from European and Filipino literature, Greek or Roman literature or from William
Shakespeare’s plays.
Instruct the group to interview a literature faculty or major about movies that are retellings of older
stories. You may also ask them to research the movies produced by Akira Kurosawa. Many movies are
actual retellings of his movies. Say that they will present their findings in class next session. Tell to
explain how the content of the movie is a retelling of the older story.
Enrichment
Quotation in response to an issue
Say: Many disputes are dealt with by quoting from an authoritative source. Lawyers quote from the law;
group members quote from by-laws; and researchers quote from renowned writers.
Given the following issues or situation, write your stand regarding the issue or situation. Be sure
to support your stand by quoting an authoritative source such as the constitution, laws, scriptures, or
scientific declarations. You may use the internet for research.
Post the following on the board. You may add issues or situations of your preference.
• Execution of a criminal without a trial
• Someone who hates another person
• A person who commits personal vengeance
• A commercial claiming that vitamins can increase height
• A student so in love with a classmate
Allow the students to finish their work. Let them submit their work based on your schedule.
Reflection
Have the students write in their journals the answer to the following questions:
1. What part of the lesson did I do well?
2. What part of the lesson did I not deliver as well as I wanted to?
3. What particular strategy or approach will I do well to employ in other lessons?
4. What aspect of the lesson must I try to improve?
5. How do I feel about my overall performance in this lesson?
Additional Readings
• The website http://humanities.wisc.edu/assets/misc/What_Is_Intertextuality.pdf contains a
good discussion of intertextuality, particularly its forms, functions, and effects.
• The website http://jalt-publications.org/old_tlt/files/98/nov/bhatia.html gives a technical
discussion of intertextuality.
• The website http://www.tc.umn.edu/~rbeach/teachingmedia/module12/3e.htm discusses
intertextuality and hypertextuality connections of texts.
163
Lesson 3 DETERMINING TEXTUAL EVIDENCE
LESSON OVERVIEW
This lesson helps students produce, support, and defend assertions made about a text. The students are
taught to use their knowledge of a text’s genre, purpose, and audience in producing assertions about a
text. They are then given some guidelines in analyzing the arguments in a text. Finally, they are given
some lessons in logic in order to understand the reasoning given in a text.
Learning Competencies
After studying this lesson, the senior high school student is able to:
1. gather textual evidence in support of an assertion about a text
2. detect properties of a text that can serve as cardinal points for evaluative statements
3. detect characteristics of claims and arguments that can serve as cardinal points for evaluative
statements
DIAGNOSTIC TEST
Post the following on the board written on any large paper or as an electronic presentation. Ask the
students to write their answers on their notebooks.
164
5. Which of the following is a loaded question?
a. Where were you on the night the robbery happened?
b. How long have you been violating the copyright law?
c. Did you know that ion-thruster engines will come around soon?
d. Isn’t that such a lovely flower?
6. Which of the following contains a downplayer?
a. The person I just saw was not a very intelligent person.
b. The “expert” could not solve the equation easily.
c. I always humbly ask my neighbors to participate in meetings.
d. It’s true that some officials in the logging company are corrupt.
7. The weakest kind of argument is based on _____________.
a. statistics
b. surveys
c. evidence
d. rhetorical devices
8. Which of the following is NOT a good way to evaluate the strength of an author’s arguments?
a. Investigate the background of the author by doing research.
b. Determine the kind of supporting evidence he or she uses.
c. Understand how the argument upholds the authors’ conclusions.
d. Trace the logical, step by step approach taken by the author.
9. Which of the following contains an innuendo?
a. The so-called social worker drove away the beggar.
b. Where did you put the jewels that you stole?
c. I wonder why he likes dancing and wearing pink.
d. He has a mountain of papers to work on.
10. Which of the following contains a hyperbole?
a. The pyramids of Egypt have been around for thousands of years.
b. There are thousands of phone loading stations in this mall.
c. A hundred thousand soldiers participated in the invasion.
d. The model is a very beautiful woman.
Answers
1. C 6. B
2. A 7. D
3. A 8. A
4. D 9. C
5. B 10. B
Instructional Plan
Make sure that the title of the lesson is written in front for the whole class to see.
165
A. Motivation
Ask the class: Do you believe that aliens have visited Earth? Let the class give their opinions. After
some time, show a video about ancient aliens that have visited Earth.
Use a browser and a projector to show an episode of Ancient Aliens to the class. You may visit
this web address for the video (or look for another site).
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAH2jRZFlxzOnBOdhe8h0LA
You may also look for another legal way to show the video.
After the video, ask the students: What is your opinion about the ideas expressed in the video?
Allow the class to share their opinions.
After some time, say to the class that the lesson today will help them assess textual evidence.
The skills they will learn here can also help them assess the ideas shown on visual presentations.
B. Presentation of Content
READ AND DISCUSS, PAGES 156-167
Tell the class that when they become professionals, they may be asked to make evaluative statements
about a text. The text may contain elements and ideas that need to be evaluated. They may be asked
to comment on the quality of the elements or the acceptability of ideas expressed in the text. That is
why you need to develop the ability to make evaluative statements regarding a text.
The author’s purpose and audience will also significantly influence the genre of the text. The
genre, author’s purpose, and audience can be determined through a careful reading of the text.
Carefully paying attention to the structure, word use, and tone of the writing and integrating this
by what you know about written texts you had been exposed to can help you determine the genre
of a text. The previous chapters should have increased your ability to do so.
Draw a circle around the word genre on the board and draw an arrow to the following words
you will write on the board: carefully examining structure, word use, and tone of writing
166
Activity
Ask the class to do the activity on page 157. Have them match the sentence with the kind of
genre of the text it probably belongs to. Go around and help any student who needs clarification
regarding the activity. After the class has finished, discuss the answers as shown below.
Answers:
1. I 6. G
2. D 7. C
3. J 8. H
4. A 9. B
5. F 10. E
Activity
Tell the students to read the comment on pointing out the most significant data on page 157 of
the text for more information. After that, instruct them to copy the first table on page 158 of their
textbook. Tell them to choose a text they read in Chapter 2; write on the space provided in the
table what they consider to be the most significant idea from the text; and write a brief explanation
for their answer on the next column.
Allow the class to do the activity. After some time ask: Who would like to share his or her work?
Allow the students to individually give their answers.
Say to the class: This means you will not follow your own standards. Instead, you will follow
what many people consider to be reliable standards or measures. These may include national, inter-
167
national, or field-related standards created by reputable groups of people such as the United Nations
or international accrediting bodies.
Guard against one’s own bias against the author.
Say to the class: We all have our biases. We cannot totally remove them. We simply need to guard
against our biases. Our biases are a product of how we were brought up, our experiences particularly
in relation to a group of people or to somebody, or to the group we belong to. For example, devout
religionists are likely to be biased against atheists and vice-versa. In evaluating a text, we need to
try to think beyond our biases toward the author.
Focus only on the ideas and not on the author.
Say to the class: Finally, we need to focus on the ideas and not the author. Even if we have a
feeling of resentment or hostility toward the author, we need to clear our minds and try to focus on
the ideas because it is still possible that an author we do not like may have some good ideas.
Activity
Direct the class to page 158 of their textbooks and have them do the activity. Copy the table and
find a partner. Discuss with your partner what bias you may have toward the kind of writer in each
number and write your own possible bias on the space provided.
Allow the class to do the activity. After some time ask: Who would like to share his or her work?
Allow the students to individually give their answers.
Activity
Have the students open their books on page 159. This time they will write about a possible bias
they may have toward a specific writer. Have them copy the table and find a partner to discuss
what bias they may have toward the specific writer in each number and then write the own pos-
sible bias on the space provided.
Allow the class to do the activity. After some time ask: Who would like to share his or her work?
Allow the students to individually give their answers.
168
Based on their performance group the class into advanced, intermediate, and beginners but do
not inform them. Perform differentiated instruction on each group after you discuss “Evaluating the
strength of an author’s arguments.”
Say to the group that there are premises that are very weak, particularly ideas that are not gener-
ally accepted or unproven such as the existence of magical devices, otherworldly places, or creatures
whose existence have not been firmly established.
Say to the group that a strong argument stems from premises that are reasonable. You need to
examine the author’s premises in order to establish their reasonability.
Write on the board under “Evaluating the strength of an author’s arguments”:
“Strong arguments stem from reasonable premises.”
Stay to the group that sometimes the author does not explicitly state his or her premises. They
are thus unstated assumptions and the students need to make use of skills similar to inferencing,
similar to making conclusions but in the middle of the text, in order to discover and take note of them.
Write on the board under “Evaluating the strength of an author’s arguments”:
“Consider unstated assumptions.”
169
For Advanced
Activity
• Post the following on the board or use electronic presentation.
_________1. The area referred to as Bermuda Triangle has a gateway to another dimension.
_________2. The Philippines now has less than 20% of the forest cover it had in the 1950s.
_________3. The area referred to as Bermuda Triangle contains a huge deposit of metal
that affects airplanes’ and ships’ compasses.
_________4. There were large mammals such as the woolly mammoth that humans hunted
to extinction.
_________5. The pyramids of Egypt were built by aliens.
_________6. Living near large electric transmission lines produces leukemia in humans.
_________7. A satellite remains in a stationary position by having the same speed as the
rotation of the Earth.
_________8. Ordinary metals can be turned into gold using high technology chemical
reactions.
_________9. The microwave, laser, video camera, and computer are devices invented using
newly-discovered technology from a crashed spaceship.
_________10. Ancient people produced corn by interbreeding different varieties of wheat.
_________11. Diamonds can be produced in laboratories.
_________12. The combined weight of all termites actually outweighs the combined weight
of all humans in the world.
• Give the following instructions:
Write G on your answer sheet if the corresponding ideas can serve as good premises,
NCG for ideas that not clearly good premises, and NG for ideas that will definitely not
make good premises. You may consult trustworthy sources in the internet for verification.
• Answers may vary on some numbers but the good premises are 4, 7, and 11; the not
clearly good are 2, 3, 6, 10, and 12; and the definitely not good are 1, 5, 8, and 9.
For Intermediate
Evaluating the strength of Pura Santillan-Casterences arguments in “Shall We walk?”
Have the members of the group work in pairs and evaluate the arguments given by Pura
Santillan-Castrence in her article, “Shall We Walk?” in chapter 2 of based on the pointers
they learned. Tell them to use a table like the one below in writing their evaluation of their
arguments. Instruct them to write the arguments that she gave. On the left, tell them to write
a comment which will serve as their evaluation.
170
An evaluation of the arguments given in ‘Shall We Walk?’ by Pura Santillan-Castrence
Argumentt Evaluation
1.
2.
3.
Give time for the pairs to discuss and write thei r answers. Go around and help any pair
struggling to evaluate an argument. Let the pairs submit their work and ask for volunteers
who would like to share their evaluations.
For Beginners
Inferencing
Write on the board: Inferencing
Say to the group the following:
Inferencing is similar to drawing conclusions, but inferencing is done while reading the text.
It involves reasoning in the middle of the text. A reader using inferencing can come up with
ideas while absorbing the ideas expressed in the middle of the text.
Write under the word Inferencing on the board:
• like a conclusion
• done while reading
Inferencing requires you to know what idea should follow another idea. Otherwise you
may come up with ideas not called for by the text. Instead, you should come up with ideas
that naturally follow the ideas in the text. Such ideas are called corollary ideas.
Write under the word Inferencing on the board:
• you must know what idea should follow another idea
As with drawing conclusions, you make inferences based on your schema or your knowl-
edge of the world through your learning and experiences.
Write under the word Inferencing on the board:
• based on your schema or experiences
Inferencing requires practice. Do not be discouraged if you are unable to come up with
ideas on your first few attempts.
Write under the word Inferencing on the board:
• requires practice
Inferencing may be daunting at first but once you acquire the skill, you will find it to be
useful in your reading.
Tell the group that one important way to evaluate the strength of the arguments is to trace the
logical, step-by-step approach of the author in building his or her case.
Write on the board: “Trace the logical, step-by-step approach of the author in building the case.”
171
Say that it is possible for an author to give a perfectly reasonable or correct idea only to follow
it with a faulty idea or an idea that does not logically result from the first one. This second idea is
called non sequitur or ‘does not follow.’”
Write on the board and put an X beside it: non-sequitur ideas
Provide an example. Say: for example, it is true that oxygen burns fat, but it will be non sequitur
to say that a person can get thin by just breathing oxygen. In the following examples, the second
idea is non sequitur: (Write the following on the board.)
a. Calcium strengthens teeth. Use toothpaste that has calcium to strengthen your teeth.
b. HIV is transmitted through sharing of needles. Mosquitoes also transmit HIV because the body
part they use for sucking blood is like a needle.
c. Natural selection ensures that only the best survive. Drinking beer improves our intelligence
because alcohol kills brain cells such that only the best brain cells survive.
The strength of an author’s arguments is also determined by the kind of supporting evidence the
author gives. In general, facts and statistics are the most reliable evidence while appeals to emotion
are weak. Another weak way of supporting an argument is by backing up a claim with another claim.
Write on the board: “kind of supporting evidences very important”
Say that the strength of an argument is also related to how it supports the claim. An argument
may be correct on its own but may not actually contribute to supporting the claim. Direct the students
to the paragraph on page 160 of their textbook.
Write on the board: “Does the argument really support the claim?”
Ask someone to read the paragraph out loud. After the reading, ask: What can you say about
the sentences individually? as a paragraph? What is the main idea of the paragraph? What are the
supporting details?
Have the students notice that the individual sentences may be true in themselves, but they do
not really support the claim that the leader is an outstanding statesman.
On the other hand, an author who qualifies his or her claims and emphasizes the conditions that
make the claims true will not need to provide a lot of convincing evidences to back up the claims
as much as an author making generalizing claims would.
Write on the board and put a check mark beside it: “qualifies claims or emphasizes conditions
that make them true”
172
Explain further than an author who avoids making broad claims will also mention exceptions
to any generalization he or she makes. An author who tries to paint using broad strokes of the brush
will neither mention exceptions nor qualify his or her claims. Direct the students’attention to the
quote on page 161.
Write on the board: “Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings.”
The quote alludes to the scientific achievement enabling two astronauts to walk on the moon
in July 1969. It also alludes to the destruction of the World Trade Center by religious extremists
using airplanes. This quote makes broad, overreaching rhetoric by making it sound like science
accomplishes only good while religion accomplishes only evil. It does not take into consideration
the evil brought about through the misuse of science such as biological, chemical and nuclear
weapons, high powered guns, Adolf Hitler’s use of the theory of evolution to justify genocide, and
pollution and environmental destruction. Neither does it acknowledge the good that come about
when religiously-motivated people build orphanages, care for the victims of war, establish faith-
based charities, and transform themselves into better people. The writer of the bumper sticker does
not try to qualify his or her statements. Nor does the author mention exceptions to his or her claims.
Also, the author does not state the conditions that make his or her ideas true. On the other hand,
a responsible writer acknowledges the limits of his or her claim. This makes the author’s writing
acceptable to the general public.”
Euphemism or Dysphemism
Ask: What are euphemisms? Dyphemisms? When can they be used? Call on several students to
describe the terms and provide an example for each.
Euphemisms refer to words used to replace another word in order to make it sound more accept-
able and less irritating or offensive. On the other hand, dysphemisms used to produce the opposite
effect; they are words used to replace another word in order to make it sound unacceptable, irritating,
or otherwise not pleasing to the reader.
Write the following on the board.
• euphemism – to make a word sound acceptable; less irritating or offensive
• dysphemism – to make a word sound unacceptable, irritating or not pleasing to the reader
173
ing is referred to as ‘doing number 2, call of nature, or bowel movement;’ and human reproductive
organs are referred to as ‘flower or male reproductive organ.’ These words are euphemisms; they
make the reference word more polite or acceptable.”
Direct the class to page 162 of their textbook for more examples of euphemism and dysphemism.
Activity
Have the class copy the table on page 162. Tell them to compose their own euphemism and
dysphemism. Go around and help a student thinking whether or not a word is a euphemism or
dysphemism for another word by asking him or her whether the word makes the other word more
pleasing or offensive.
Downplayer
Discuss the following:
A downplayer is a word or expression intended to lower the credentials of a person or to lower the
quality of an attribute. It may also be intended to soften the impact of an idea. Some words like just,
only, so-called and even but, however, and anyway can be used to downplay something or someone.
Write the following on the board:
• Downplayer – used to lower credentials or soften impact
• Examples: just, only, so-called, but, however
Quotation marks on a word can also be used for downplaying. Have the students turn to page
163 of their textbook for examples.
Hyperbole
A hyperbole is an exaggeration intended to produce a dramatic or shocking effect. Hyperbole is
also used by authors to catch the attention of their readers and drive their opinion favorably toward
that of the author. You as the reader must be careful to see if the writer is making an exaggeration
so that you will adopt his or her own views.
Write on the board: Hyperbole – exaggeration for dramatic or shocking effect
Say to the class that they will know that something is hyperbole if its literal interpretation is
absurd; otherwise it may not be a hyperbole at all.
Have the students turn their textbooks to page 163 for examples of hyperbole.
Proof Surrogate
Proof surrogate is when a writer says or implies that there is proof or evidence without specifying
that evidence or its source. Proof surrogate is also committed by a writer when the writer uses the
words clearly or obviously when the idea being expressed is not clear or obvious at all.
Write on the board: Proof surrogate – saying or implying proof without specifying it
Have the students turn their textbooks to 164 for examples of proof surrogate.
174
Loaded Question
A loaded question is a question that contains a malicious assumption. A loaded question is also
called a complex question. A person being asked a loaded question cannot give a simple answer.
Write the following on the board.
loaded question (also called a complex question) – question that contains a malicious assumption
The classic example of a loaded question is, ‘how long have you been beating your wife?’”
Have the students turn their textbooks to 164 for more examples of loaded questions.”
After the class has examined the examples, let them give examples.
Innuendo
If a loaded question is a question that contains a malicious assumption, an innuendo is a statement
or question that implies something malicious. The statement or question is worded in such a way
that something malicious about the subject is formed in the mind of the reader.
Write on the board: innuendo – a statement or question implying something malicious
Say to the class, “examples of innuendo include the following.”
Write the following on the board.
Last week, the candidate had little campaign money. Then he went to China. Now he has huge
amount of money.
Our mayor spends a lot of his time in Macau. (a gambling destination)
Have the students turn their textbooks to 164 of your textbook for more examples of innuendo.
Ridicule
Ridicule is when, instead of reacting to an idea by providing logical counter-arguments, another
writer simply ridicules the idea. Ridicule often comes with sarcasm, which is a creative way of
insulting. Examples of ridicule include the following:
So many idiots say that the death penalty does not really deter crime.
Humans should become vegetarians. Now that is a really stupid idea!
Only fools would believe that the Earth’s temperature is rising too fast.
Straw Man
A writer is employing a rhetorical device called straw man when the author presents a weakened or
erroneous version of another writer’s idea.
For example, an environmentalist writer asserts that the government should ban fishing in
some areas in order to allow the fish to recover their numbers. A columnist counters that preventing
fishermen from fishing will let them go hungry simply because the environmentalist wants to save
some cute fish.
The columnist is employing straw man because what the columnist is saying regarding the
position of the environmentalist is not really the actual position of the environmentalist.”
175
Activity
Have the class to work in pairs and do the activity on page 165 of their textbooks. Go around and
answer questions a student may have regarding rhetorical devices.
Detecting sound and faulty reasoning in a text
There are accepted forms of reasoning that can be employed in an argumentative essay or
in any other form of writing. The first is modes ponens and the second is modes tollens.
In a condition like ‘if P then Q’, P is called the antecedent and Q is called the consequent.
If you are a king then you are a man. You are not a man. Therefore, you are not a king.
176
Write the following on the board:
All kings are men. You are not a man. Therefore, you are not a king.
Philosophers and logicians have identified at least two kinds of faulty reasoning. The first is called
affirming the antecedent and the second is called denying the consequent.
Affirming the antecedent goes this way. Think of P and Q as any statement. The faulty reasoning
goes:” (Write the following on the board.)
If P then Q.
Therefore, P.
Say to the class, “let’s have an actual example: (Write the following on the board.)
P = “You are a king.” Q = “You are a man.”
Notice in our example that we cannot say that you are a king simply because you are a man. In
other words, we cannot affirm the antecedent simply because the consequent is true. So affirming
the antecedent is indeed faulty reasoning.
Denying the consequent goes this way. Think of P and Q as any statement. The faulty reasoning
goes: (Write the following on the board.)
If P then Q.
Not P.
Therefore, not Q.
Notice in our example that we cannot say that you are not a man simply because you are not a king.
In other words, we cannot deny the consequent simply because the antecedent is not true. So denying
the consequent is indeed faulty reasoning.
177
Generalization
Help the students develop an overall understanding of the lesson by asking them the following
questions:
1. How do we determine the genre, author’s purpose, and intended audience of a text?
2. Why is pointing out the most important idea in a text different from one reader to another?
3. How do we avoid too much subjectivity in evaluating a text?
4. How do we evaluate the strength of an author’s arguments?
5. Why is it important to evaluate the wording of the author’s claims?
6. What is the difference between arguments based on evidence and arguments based on rhetoric?
7. Give examples of sound reasoning from a text. (modus ponens and modus tollens)
8. Give examples of faulty reasoning from a text. (affirming the antecedent and denying the con-
sequent)
9. What is the most important idea to evaluate in a text and why?
End-of-Lesson Test
Re-administer the diagnostic test given at the start of the lesson. Based on the student’s answers,
divide the students into groups of high achievers, average achievers, and lower achievers but do not
inform the class. Perform differentiated instruction.
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
Remediation
More examples of rhetorical devices
Discuss with the group the following rhetorical devices. Give each student a copy or use electronic
presentation. Ask for volunteers to answer and give their explanation. Give any additional comment you
think would be helpful or provide clarification if the answer is incorrect.
1. His disease got worse even when he kept taking the so-called wonder drug. (downplayer because
of the use of “so-called”)
2. The actor is a womanizer. However, most handsome actors are womanizers anyway. (downplayer
because of the use of “however” and “anyway”)
3. Our founder breathed his last at the ripe age of 97. (“breathed his last” is a euphemism for death)
4. What is he doing outside of the girls’ comfort room? (innuendo)
5. According to reputable sources whose identity I will hide, many pharmaceutical companies
know that natural supplements like our product can help cure cancer, but they hide the fact so
that they could continue selling their drugs. (proof surrogate)
6. Are you still selling illegal firecrackers? (loaded question)
7. I have an unending list of chores to do today. (“unending” is a hyperbole)
8. He bought several malls, and it’s perfectly clear that he cheated on his taxes. (Here, saying
something is clear when it is not is proof surrogate because there is no evidence being given.)
9. I don’t want any nosy reporter coming into our town and writing about this. (“nosy” is a
dysphemism; it’s euphemism equivalent is “inquisitive”)
10. You are intelligent today. (innuendo)
178
11. Did you also experiment on drugs when you were younger? (no rhetorical device; not a loaded
question)
12. The baker of those delicious crinkles should win a Nobel Prize. (hyperbole)
13. No need to worry. The dip in the stock market is just a small blip. It will increase soon. (“just”
here is a downplayer)
14. I believe that the new law will help the poor. I also believe in UFOs, ghosts, and Santa Claus.
(ridicule combined with sarcasm)
15. According to a United Nations report this year, the number of cases of dengue fever has decreased
in the country. (no rhetorical device; not a proof surrogate)
16. Give teachers a basic salary of 30,000. Where did you pick up such wild ideas? (ridicule).
Reinforcement
Detecting sound and faulty reasoning
Have the students write their own examples of modus ponens, modus tollens, affirming the antecedent,
and denying the consequent but tell them to write them in any order. After writing, have them share their
paper with their seatmate. Find out which is modus ponens, modus tollens, affirming the antecedent,
and denying the consequent.
Allow the group to work on their activity. Go around and help anyone who is struggling to write
his or her reasoning.
After writing, let them share with one of their classmates. Go around and help anyone who is strug-
gling to identify the reasoning in their classmate’s work or students who are disagreeing with each other
on the nature of a particular reasoning.
Enrichment
Evaluating the strength of Francis P. Church’s arguments in “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus”
Have the students work in pairs and evaluate the arguments given by Francis P. Church in his article,
“Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” in chapter 2. Instruct them to use the following table in writing
their evaluation of his arguments. Have them write Church’s argument on the right and on the left, write
the student’s comment.
2.
3.
Give time for the pairs to discuss and write their answers. Go around and help any pair struggling
to evaluate an argument. Let the pairs submit their work and ask for volunteers who would like to share
their evaluations.
179
Reflection
Have the students write in their journals the answer to the following questions:
1. What part of the lesson did I do well?
2. What part of the lesson did I not deliver as well as I wanted to?
3. What particular strategy or approach will I do well to employ in other lessons?
4. What aspect of the lesson must I try to improve?
5. How do I feel about my overall performance in this lesson?
Additional Readings
• Brooke Noel Moore and Richard Parker’s Critical Thinking has an entire section devoted
to logic and another entire section on faulty reasoning. This book is all about logic and
reasoning. It also discusses rhetorical devices and pseudo-reasoning. The section on the
strengths of a good explanation is very informative.
• Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell’s Patterns for College Writing: a Rhetorical
Reader and Guide discusses argumentation including kinds of arguments, logic, and planning
an argumentative essay. It also discusses other types of writing.
• John D. Ramage, John C. Bean, and June Johnson’s The Allyn and Bacon Guide to Writing
gives a comprehensive discussion on making classical arguments. The book discusses other
approaches to writing different kinds of texts.
• Lorna H. Smith and Robert J. Ramonda’s Read, Write, React: an Integrated Approach to
Reading and Writing has an entire chapter on inferencing including inferencing as a reading
strategy. It talks about implying ideas and information as writing strategies. It has several
selections that help readers reflect on the skills of inferencing.
• The website http://www.mhhe.com/mayfieldpub/ct/chapterindex.htm provides exercises on
logic, good and faulty reasoning.
180
Lesson 4 FORMULATING EVALUATIVE STATEMENTS
LESSON OVERVIEW
This lesson follows the writing process in helping students write a 1000-word critique of a text. A sig-
nificant amount of discussion is given on the prewriting stage as the step in which the student prepares
his or her ideas about the claims, arguments, reasoning, and other components of a text. A little less but
still very important amount of discussion is given on organizing and drafting the critique.
Learning Competencies
After studying this lesson, the senior high school student is able to:
1. formulate assertions about the content and properties of a text read
2. formulate meaningful counterclaims in response to claims made in a text read
3. organize evaluative statements into meaningful sections based on cardinal points detected
4. write a 1000-word critique of a selected text on the basis of its claim/s, context, and properties
as a written material
DIAGNOSTIC TEST
Post the following on the board written on any large paper or as an electronic presentation. Ask the
students to write their answers on their notebooks.
Answer the following questions about your abilities as honestly as possible. This diagnostic
questionnaire will not be graded. It is intended to help the teacher respond to your writing needs. Check
only one box per number.
1. How confident are you about reacting to what you consider to be the most important idea in a text?
very confident confident a little confident not confident
2. How confident are you about writing assertions regarding the genre of a text?
very confident confident a little confident not confident
3. How confident are you about writing assertions regarding the author’s purpose for writing a
particular text?
very confident confident a little confident not confident
4. How confident are you about writing assertions about the intended audience of a text?
very confident confident a little confident not confident
5. How confident are you about writing assertions regarding how the context has influenced a
particular text?
very confident confident a little confident not confident
6. How confident are you about writing assertions regarding the wording of the claims in a text?
very confident confident a little confident not confident
7. How confident are you about identifying and writing assertions about the implicit and explicit
premises in a text?
very confident confident a little confident not confident
8. How confident are you about writing counterclaims in reaction to the claims of an author?
very confident confident a little confident not confident
181
9. How confident are you about making assertions as to whether or not the arguments an author
wrote are well-supported with details?
very confident confident a little confident not confident
10. How confident are you about making assertions regarding the soundness of reasoning in a text?
very confident confident a little confident not confident
11. How confident are you about writing conclusions regarding a text being critiqued?
very confident confident a little confident not confident
12. Over-all, how confident are you regarding writing a critique?
very confident confident a little confident not confident
Instructional Plan
Make sure that the title of the lesson is written in front for the whole class to see.
A. Motivation
Prepare copies of Renato Constantino’s “The Miseducation of the Filipino.” You may obtain this
from http://eaop.ucsd.edu/198/group-identity/THE%20MISEDUCATION%20OF%20THE%20
FILIPINO.pdf
You may also obtain this through other websites or other means. Prepare copies of the following
critiques of “The Miseducation of the Filipino:”
• http://opinion.inquirer.net/89344/miseducated-by-constantino
You may obtain other articles and their critiques as your examples. Let the students read the
articles.
B. Presentation of Content
READ AND DISCUSS, PAGES 168-175
Prepare three articles available to be critiqued by the students. They may choose one among the
three. The following are suggestions:
The death penalty v. human rights: why abolish the death penalty?
• https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/ACT51/002/2007/en/
Who speaks for the victims of those we execute?
• http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/
Human cloning: the need for a comprehensive ban
• https://cbhd.org/cloning/position-statement
Should cloning be legal? Why not?
• http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-cloning-be-legal
182
Human cloning should be permitted
• http://www.humancloning.org/david.htm
Why cloning should be legalized
• http://www.humancloning.org/essays/alexa2.htm
Cloning: only God can do that?
• http://www.skeptictank.org/hs/sherclon.htm
More effective
• http://www.philstar.com/opinion/2016/04/08/1570636/more-effective
Have the students scribble notes as they undergo the process of writing a critique.
Inform the class that their final output in this lesson is to be able to write a 1000-word critique
of a selected text on the basis of its claim/s, context, and properties as a written material. That would
probably take up three to four pages of handwritten yellow paper.
Say that all the activities they will do in this lesson are geared toward enabling them to write
that final requirement. Emphasize that they have to do each activity deliberately so that they may
be able to accomplish the goal.
183
Describing the context of the text
Instruct the students to mark out their notebooks with the following: (Write the following on the board)
The context of the text
At this point, they may take time to do research regarding the context of the text. Have them in-
clude any text that might have influenced the text. Have them see if the author is responding to any
stimulus in the author’s context.
After they have done their research, instruct them to write a detailed explanation of how the
context affected the writing of the text. Their explanation will be detailed if they include enough
evidences, supporting details, or arguments that support their explanation.
Allow the students to do the research. This serves as a way of acquiring the 21st century skill of doing
research. They may have to go outside of the classroom to do their research. They may even have to visit
an off-school library to do so. Make sure that you check their work to see that it indeed explained fully
how the context affected the writing of the text, complete with sufficient details, evidences, or arguments.
184
Premises
The main element of a critique is the evaluation as to whether or not the author was able to present
well-supported arguments. The critique should show why the arguments are sound or faulty.
First, the students need to know if the author based them on factual premises, that is, they are based
on facts and not just opinions. If the premises are not factual then there is only a small probability
that they are good premises. Sometimes the premises are unstated. In that case, they need to state
them explicitly and identify them.
Copy the following table on the board. Have the class copy it into their notebook and write
their answers.” For each student who finishes, check if what he or she wrote about the premise is
acceptable or needs more work.
Allow the class to finish writing. Check your students’ work after they finish.
If the premises are such that they cannot serve as good bases for arguments, then your student’s
job is to check if the arguments can still stand even if the premises are faulty
Arguments
Say to the class that arguments should be reasonable. For one, they should follow properly from the
premises. If not then they are called, ‘not sequitur,’ that is, they do not follow the previous premise
or argument.
Have the students complete the following table. Write the following on the board.
185
Allow a considerable amount of time for students to finish this task.
186
Level Characteristic of work
Group the ones you think have good, substantial, and meaningful work into advanced learners.
Immediately discuss organizing your critique and writing a first draft with them as your differentiated
instruction for advanced. In this way, you are letting them start working on their essay without being
delayed by your effort at dealing with middle and lower level achievers.
For Advanced
Organizing your critique
Write the following on the board.
Organizing your critique
Emphasize to the students that since this is the most intensive writing they have done so far at
least for this course, they need to organize their writing well.
Say that this is the culmination of what they have learned in this course. That is why they
are doing this one step at a time. They really need to work well on each step. One of the most
important tasks they need to do is to organize their critique into several sections. In this critique,
they have four major sections.
Write the following on the board under ‘Organizing your critique’ and a little indented,
General assertions about the text
Tell the group to discuss the first section that contains general assertions about the text. They
will write broad, evaluative statements showing how they view the text. They must write about
what they consider to be the most important idea expressed in the text and their reaction to it.
They will also write about the thesis sentence and their reaction to it. What they did in the
previous sections as recorded in their notebook serves as input for material that they will write in
this section.
Write the following on the board under ‘General assertions about the text’ but on the same
indentation,
Context of the text
The next section is the context of the text. This section discusses the genre, author’s tone and
purpose in writing, and the author’s target audience. This section gives a note on intertextuality,
that is, how the world at large, previous texts, and other conditions shaped the writing of the text.
Write the following on the board under ‘Context of the text’ but on the same indentation,
Discussion of the author’s claims
187
This section is where the evaluative statements about the authors claims including what the
claims are, how they are stated, that is, give comments on the wordings used by the author in
stating them, and if the author supports them with the right arguments.
Write the following on the board under ‘Discussion of the author’s claims’ but on the same
indentation,
Conclusion
In this section, students summarize how their evaluative statements and discussions support
their assertions about the text they are critiquing. Have them include a restatement of their overall
evaluation of the text. Ask the students to give a special assertion about how the context of the
text influenced its writing.
For Intermediate
Dealing with deficiencies
This group has meaningful written material but their work is not very substantial. Focus on which
steps or sections they lack substantial material on and encourage them to repeat the particular
step so that they can come up with more substantial written material.
Ask those with substantial work on a particular step to help those who lack material on that
step. Allow the students to help each other. Go around and check if anyone is not helping his or
her seatmate.
After you have performed differentiated instruction for middle achievers, you may then focus
on differentiated instruction for lower achievers. You will later go back to discussing with the
middle achievers group regarding organizing their critique and writing their first draft after you
have performed differentiated instruction for intermediate.
188
For Intermediate
Dealing with deficiencies
This group has meaningful written material but their work is not very substantial. Focus on which
steps or sections they lack substantial material on and encourage them to repeat the particular
step so that they can come up with more substantial written material.
Ask those with substantial work on a particular step to help those who lack material on that
step. Allow the students to help each other. Go around and check if anyone is not helping his or
her seatmate.
After you have performed differentiated instruction for middle achievers, you may then focus
on differentiated instruction for lower achievers. You will later go back to discussing with the
middle achievers group regarding organizing their critique and writing their first draft after you
have performed differentiated instruction for intermediate.
For Beginners
Remediation
Remediation involves changing the environment and the way students learn the topic or skill under
remediation teaching. Your students in this group are probably reluctant to do their work and have
low-self esteem in terms of their ability in this subject. Remediation seeks to help such students
by providing a different approach to completing their tasks.
Their implementation of remediation will involve personally guiding the students.
For every step given in the textbook, have them work with the group by being the one asking
the questions included in each of the steps. As you ask them the questions and they give their
answers, immediately ask them to write down what they had just said. They may also write down
their classmates’ answer but be sure that much of what they write comes from their own answers.
After finishing your differentiated instruction among the beginners, proceed with discussion
with the intermediate group regarding organizing the critique as well as writing a first draft. Refer
to the differentiated instruction for advanced learners for the discussion flow.
Once you are finished with discussion regarding organizing the critique and writing a first draft
with the middle achievers group, continue your remediation work with the lower achievers group.
After the lower achievers group has finally come up with acceptable amount of material, pro-
ceed with discussing organizing the critique as well as writing the first draft. As with the middle
achievers group, refer to the differentiated instruction for high achievers for the discussion flow.
Editing
In order to facilitate editing work, divide the advanced group into groups which will specialize in
editing for specific sections of the writing.
The editing group will check all the students’ papers including papers from their own group.
Assign editing groups which will check for and only for one of the following: (Write the follow-
ing underlined text on your notebook per page and write down the names of the students involved
in that editing group.)
189
a. General assertions about the text being critiqued. This group will check if the student’s essay
contains what the student writer considers to be the most important idea in the text being critiqued
and that the student has written a substantial reaction to it. They will also check to see that the
student’s paper has quoted or paraphrased the original text’s thesis sentence and the student’s
assertions regarding it.
b. Context of the text. This group will check if the student has written assertions about the genre,
author’s purpose, and intended audience of the text being critiqued. They will also check that
the student has written about how the context had influenced the writing of the original text.
They may refer to page 169 and on chapter 2 lesson 2 of the textbook.
c. Assertions about the wordings of the claims in the text being critiqued. This group will check
if the student’s assertions about the original text’s wordings in the claims are acceptable. They
may refer to page 170 of the textbook.
d. The critiqued text’s premises. This group will check if the student enumerated the implicit and
explicit premises from the text being critiqued, wrote assertion about them, and if the student’s
assertions about the author’s premises have supporting details in the form of arguments or other
details. The students may refer to page 171 of the textbook.
e. The student’s counterclaims. This group will check if the student has written counterclaims and
if they have good supporting details.
f. Assertions about the arguments in the text being critiqued. This group will check if the student
has formulated assertions about the strength of the author’s arguments for each claim. The
group will check if the student’s assertions have supporting details. This group will also see if
the student commented on any rhetoric devices or a claim supported by another claim in the
text being critiqued.
g. Assertions about the soundness of reasoning in critiqued text. This group will check if the student
has formulated assertions about the soundness of the reasoning employed by the author of the
critiqued text and if the student’s assertions are well-supported with details.
h. Conclusion. This group will check if the conclusion has an overall assertion about the text.
They will also check if the student’s essay includes a summary of what he or she thinks about
the author’s claims and how the author supports them. The group will check if the student has
commented on any significant influence of other texts on the text being critiqued.
The editing group will provide comments on their classmates’ work in relation to the specific area
they are editing.
If there are not enough students from the high achievers group to do the editing, students from
the middle achievers group may be included in the editing group.
Each student must have a peer checking form (as shown below) for editing work.
Print the peer editing form and give copies to the students as part of editing. Each of the area
listed as being edited will be signed by a member of the peer editing group after it has passed scrutiny.
Each student will keep on revising his or her work in relation to each area being edited until the
editing group signs the form completely.
190
Form for Peer Editing
Name: Section: Date:
Title of critique:
Acceptable?
Area being edited Signature of peer editor
(check if yes)
1. General assertions about the
text being critiqued
8. Conclusion
Revising
Have the students revise their work based on their classmates’ comments. They will continue revis-
ing your work until their form is completely signed. Once their form is completely signed, meaning
they have revised their work satisfactorily. Have them attach the form of their critique and submit
them to you. Say that you will also check their critique’s work.
Say that you will return their work next session and they must work on it based on the comments
you give them.
Publishing
Have the students publish their works in the class website.
Generalization
Help the students develop an overall understanding of the lesson by asking them the following
questions:
1. How do we react to the most important idea in a text?
2. How do we determine the genre of a text?
3. How do we determine the author’s purpose for writing a text?
4. How do we determine the intended audience of a text?
191
5. How does the context influence a text?
6. How do we assess a claim in a text?
7. How important are the premises in a text?
8. Why do we write counterclaims to the claims of an author?
9. How do we analyze the arguments an author gives?
10. How do we analyze the soundness of reasoning of an author?
11. Why do we write critiques?
End-of-Lesson Test
Use the specific rubric in the textbook and teacher’s manual for assessing a particular section of the
critique. You may also use the following rubric for checking the structure of the student’s writing
192
Word use Many words are Many words are Some words are All words are
not properly used not properly used slightly incorrect properly used.
with one or two but are close to in use.
words glaringly the right word.
improper in use.
Grammar Grammar causes Some Some Almost no
the reader to grammatical grammatical grammatical
make frequent errors are errors are obvious errors are found.
pauses to obvious to the to the reader but
make sense of reader with one do not alter the
the sentence case altering the intended meaning
grammatically. intended meaning significantly.
significantly.
Mechanics Poor adherence to Significant A few errors in Proper mechanics
good mechanics number of very mechanics do are consistently
is shown. noticeable errors not affect reading followed.
in mechanics flow.
Based on your assessment of the students’ critiques, divide the students into groups of advanced,
intermediate, and beginner but do not inform the class. Perform differentiated instruction.
DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
Remediation
Dealing with fragments and run-ons
Writing that deals with academic topics such as critiques must not have fragments. A fragment is a
group of words that do not express a complete idea; a fragment is not a complete sentence. Many kinds
of fragments occur in writing.
One kind of fragment is an afterthought. This is very common to oral speech but must not be found
in formal writing. For example, the following is an afterthought. (Write the following on the board.)
Academic writing must be emotionless. Emotionless and detached.
Emotionless and detached are fragments called an afterthought. The writer wrote it as an addition
to a complete thought. However, this is not accepted in formal or academic writing. It can be corrected
as, (Write the following on the board.)
Academic writing must be emotionless and detached.
Another kind of fragment is a sentence with a subordinate conjunction. The following is an example
of a fragment with a subordinate conjunction. (Write the following on the board.)
Although academic writing is emotionless.
193
It would have been a complete sentence expressing a complete thought but the subordinate conjunction
turned it into a fragment. In order to turn it into a complete sentence, one way is to simply remove the
subordinate conjunction. Thus, the fragment turns into a complete sentence.” (Write the following on the board.)
Academic writing is emotionless.
Another way is to attach it to a complete sentence to expand its meaning. (Write the following on
the board.)
Although academic is emotionless, it can still be interesting.
Another common fragment is a group of words that begins with the –ing form of a verb. For example,
the following is a fragment. (Write the following on the board.)
writing clearly and concisely
This kind of fragment can be fixed in three ways. The first is to add a subject and a main verb. Thus,
the following is a complete sentence. (Write the following on the board.)
Good writing includes writing clearly and concisely.
Another way is to turn the fragment into the subject of a sentence. Using this strategy, the following
becomes a complete sentence. (Write the following on the board.)
Writing clearly and concisely should be a writer’s goal.
The third way to fix the fragment is to add it to a complete sentence in order to expand its meaning.
Thus, the following is a complete sentence with an additional idea. (Write the following on the board.)
Writing clearly and concisely, writers express their ideas better.
In contrast to fragments, run-ons are two or more complete sentences that do not have sufficient
punctuation or no punctuation at all between them. Some writers consider a comma splice as a run-on.
A comma splice is a run-on in which two sentences are separated by a comma only. The following are
examples. (Write the following on the board.)
A. The engineer ensures the integrity of a structure, an architect produces its beauty.
B. Dictators are despicable, they ruin an entire nation.
C. Good writers are not born, they are developed.
A comma is not enough to separate two complete sentences. However, some comma splices can be
easily fixed by adding a coordinate conjunction such as example A, as shown on the board. (Write the
following on the board.)
The engineer ensures the integrity of a structure, and an architect produces its beauty.
A comma splice can also be fixed by replacing the comma with an end-mark. End-marks can be
periods, exclamation marks, or question marks. Using this approach, example B is fixed elegantly. Write
the following on the board:
Dictators are despicable. They ruin an entire nation.
194
Still another way to fix a comma splice is to replace the comma with a semi-colon, particularly for
sentences that are closely related. In doing so, the first letter of the next sentence need not be capitalized.
We fix example C this way. (Write the following on the board.)
Good writers are not born; they are developed.
Another kind of run-on is called a fused sentence. A fused sentence is composed of two sentences
that do not have any punctuation at all between them. The following are examples of fused sentences.
(Write the following on the board.)
• Using email can be earth-friendly it does not waste paper.
• Reading is fun so is writing.
• The national library is big it has more than five floors.
Like comma splices, fused sentences can be fixed similarly: by putting end-marks between sentences,
by adding a comma and a coordinate conjunction, and by putting a semi-colon between closely-related
sentences. Thus, the previous run-ons are now corrected. (Write the following on the board.)
• Using email can be earth-friendly. It does not waste paper.
• Reading is fun, and so is writing.
• The national library is big; it has more than five floors.
Have the students share their work with their seatmates. They will look for fragments and run-ons
in their work. Once the owners get their paper back, have them correct it based on the comments.
Reinforcement
The differences between academic and creative writing
Ask the group to take out their notebooks and divide a page into two columns. One will be for the char-
acteristics of academic writing and the other for creative writing.
Academic writing and creative writing can be very different because they serve different purposes.
The purpose of academic writing is to express ideas related to study. On the other hand, creative writing
may have many purposes such as entertainment, pleasure, or leisure.
First, academic writing deals with academic topics. This means non-academic topics such as gossip,
celebrities, fantasy, and many other frivolous subjects may not be the topic of academic writing unless
they are approached in an academic way. In contrast, creative writing deals with any topic interesting
to humans in a context of pleasure or fun.
Have the students write deals only with academic topics under the academic writing column and
any topic under the creative writing column.
Second, academic writing is formal while creative writing can be informal. Since academic writing
is formal, it cannot involve the use of informal language such as coz, ‘twas and ain’t, shortcuts such as
& for and or # for number. It may not include slang or any informal vocabulary or expressions. Unlike
academic writing, creative writing can be informal. Two of the most well-known creative works are
Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. It is filled with informal expressions called collo-
quialism, an informal form of a language in a specific region. Instruct the class to write the word formal
in the academic writing column and the word informal under the creative writing column.
195
Another difference between the two is that academic writing is always literal while creative writing
can be very allegorical or metaphorical. Academic writing, because it deals with giving information and
other learning purposes, must always be literal. Otherwise, there will be confusion in interpreting it.
Creative writing can be very allegorical or metaphorical because its purpose is for ideas beyond ordinary
human experience.
Have the students write the phrase always literal under the academic writing column and the phrase
can be very allegorical or metaphorical under the creative writing column.
In addition, academic writing must be concise. Write the word concise under the academic writing
column. Conciseness means expressing one’s ideas with as few words as possible. Academic writing
must be concise because the people reading academic writing have a lot of texts to read and a lot to do.
Also, they are not reading academic writing for pleasure. Unlike, academic writing, creative writing
can be flowery.
Tell the students to write the word flowery under the creative writing column. Flowery words are
the essence of creativity so creative writing is full of it.
Also, academic writing follows a format. For example, a report has a specific format so that readers
would know where to find information without having to read the entire document. If a reader wants to
learn about the writer’s conclusion, the reader would know where to find it without having to read the
whole document. In contrast, creative writing may or may not have a format. Some creative writing like
haikus and sonnets have formats but many others do not. This is because the creative writer has freedom
to follow his or her preferences in writing.
Write follows a format under the academic writing column and write may or may not follow a format
under the creative writing column.
Academic writing also cites sources. This is so that the source of an idea or the source of the way a
common idea is expressed is given recognition. Otherwise, plagiarism occurs. Creative writers are not
expected to cite sources in their writing because they are supposed to write original work. In the event they
reference another work, the reader is expected to be informed enough to know the source of that reference.
Have the class write cites sources under the academic writing column and need not cite sources
under creative writing.
Academic writing is emotionless, impersonal, and detached. The writer must not include his or her
emotions toward academic topics. In contrast, creative writing is very emotional, personal, and intimate.
Creative writing highlights the personal, emotional, and even intimate nature of human beings.
Have the class write emotionless, impersonal, and detached under the academic writing column and
emotional, personal, and intimate under the creative writing column.
Because much of our writing is academic, students need to write in such a way as to produce texts
that have the characteristics of academic writing. Check their own work to make sure it possesses the
characteristics of academic writing.
Allow time for students to check their own work for the characteristics of academic writing.
Enrichment
196
Latin Phrases
In reading expository or persuasive essays, students may sometimes encounter Latin phrases which may
confuse them regarding their meaning.
Write the following on the board: ad hoc
Ad hoc means for a specific purpose only. The term is usually collocated with the word committee.
Ad hoc committee refers to a committee created to deal with a specific issue and for that issue only.
Understanding Latin phrases is very useful not only in English but also in other European languages
because Latin was once the common language of all of Europe.
197
Reflection
Have the students write in their journals the answer to the following questions:
1. What part of the lesson did I do well?
2. What part of the lesson did I not deliver as well as I wanted to?
3. What particular strategy or approach will I do well to employ in other lessons?
4. What aspect of the lesson must I try to improve?
5. How do I feel about my overall performance in this lesson?
Additional Readings
• Lynne Gaetz and Suneeti Phadke’s The writer’s world: paragraphs and essays discusses argu-
mentation including enhancing your writing with research. Published by Pearson Education.
• Robert M. Jackson’s Global Issues 10/11 contains articles on pressing global issues from
climate change to slavery. The articles show different ways authors persuade readers to take
a course of action. Published by McGraw-Hill.
• John D. Ramage, John C. Bean, and June Johnson’s The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing
has a section on understanding strong response writing where they discuss the concepts
and skills related to the following sub-genres of response writing: rhetorical critique, ideas
critique, reflection, and blended version of all three. They discuss the role of Aristotle’s
classic approach, logos, ethos, and pathos, including question-asking strategies for writing
each sub-genre. It also discusses argumentation and evaluation. Published by Longman.
• The website http://www.citewrite.qut.edu.au/write/critique.jsp discusses how to write a
critique. It discusses the parts of a critique and some guide questions.
198
UNIT ASSESSMENT
Match the items in part A with the correct items in part B by writing the corresponding letter on the
blank for each item.
A.
______1. when a writer says or implies that there is proof or evidence without specifying
that evidence or its source
______2. declares that a situation must occur
______3. connected texts that can be accessed by referencing a word (or several words)
in one text
______4. a statement that can be shown to be true or false
______5. one way to avoid being too subjective in evaluating a text
______6. If P then Q. not P. Therefore, not Q.
______7. referring to an idea or passage in another text without actually quoting the text
______8. how the creation of a text is influenced by other texts
______9. an evaluative statement; can be personal
______10. If P then Q. P. Therefore, Q.
______11. a way to evaluate the strength of an author’s arguments
______12. If P then Q. not Q. Therefore, not P.
______13. a text imitating the style or other properties of another text, without mocking
the text
______14. when an author restates what other texts contain
______15. word(s) used to replace another word in order to make it sound more acceptable
______16. If P then Q. Q. Therefore, P.
______17. a string of words from another text appearing in a text
______18. an exaggeration intended to produce a dramatic or shocking effect
______19. a message in one language expressed in another language
______20. affects kind of writing style
______21. an idea or conclusion that does not really follow a given idea
______22. a word or expression intended to lower the credentials of a person or to lower
the quality of an attribute
______23. a statement or question that implies something malicious
______24. when the author presents a weakened or erroneous version of another writer’s
idea
B.
A. euphemism
B. translation
C. retelling
D. intertextuality
E. non-sequitur
F. claim of fact
199
G. quotation
H. downplayer
I. modes tollens
J. proof surrogate
K. loaded question
L. straw man
M. modes ponens
N. genre, purpose, and audience
O. pastiche
P. adhering to common standards or measures
Q. tracing the logical, step-by-step approach in building the case
R. claim of policy
S. affirming the antecedent
T. denying the consequent
U. claim of value
V. hypertextuality
W. allusion
X. hyperbole
Y. innuendo
Answers:
1. J 13. O
2. R 14. C
3. V 15. A
4. F 16. S
5. P 17. G
6. T 18. X
7. W 19. B
8. D 20. N
9. U 21. E
10. M 22. H
11. Q 23. Y
12. I 24. L
200
NOTES
NOTES